Financiers

Tags: #french #pastry #almond #teacake #baked Serving: 12 pieces Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Classic French almond cakes enriched with brown butter for crisp edges and a moist, tender crumb.

Ingredients

• 150 g unsalted butter
• 90 g almond flour
• 150 g icing sugar
• 45 g pastry flour
• 2 g baking powder
• 1 g fine sea salt
• 150 g egg whites
• 5 g honey
• 3 g vanilla extract
• 15 g unsalted butter, softened (for molds)

Steps

1. Set the oven rack to the middle position.
2. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
3. Cut 150 g unsalted butter into pieces.
4. Place the butter in a medium saucepan.
5. Melt the butter over medium heat.
6. Cook the butter until the milk solids turn deep golden and smell nutty, 5 to 7 minutes.
7. Decant the browned butter into a heatproof bowl.
8. Cool the butter to about 45°C.
9. Sift the almond flour, icing sugar, pastry flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.
10. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until loose.
11. Add the egg whites to the dry ingredients.
12. Whisk the mixture until smooth.
13. Add the honey and vanilla to the batter.
14. Whisk until combined.
15. Pour the warm browned butter into the batter.
16. Whisk until the batter is glossy and emulsified.
17. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
18. Refrigerate the batter for 60 minutes.
19. Brush financier molds with softened butter.
20. Chill the prepared molds for 10 minutes.
21. Transfer the batter to a piping bag.
22. Pipe the batter into the molds to about 80% full.
23. Place the molds on a baking sheet.
24. Bake for 5 minutes.
25. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C.
26. Bake until the edges are deep golden and the centers spring back, 7 to 9 minutes.
27. Remove the baking sheet from the oven.
28. Rest the financiers in the molds for 2 minutes.
29. Invert the molds to release the financiers.
30. Cool the financiers on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Notes

• Brown butter yield: 150 g whole butter typically yields about 120–125 g browned butter; use all of it for full flavor.