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Financiers

Updated: Tue, 11 April, 2023

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Financiers, aka friands, are little almond cakey things not dissimilar to madeleines but slightly more substantial.

financiers cuisinefiend.com

Bullion bar biscuits

Petit gâteau financier aux amandes – doesn’t it sound better than boring old ‘financiers biscuit’? Of course it does, any dessert sounds better in French. Especially this dainty, buttery piece of almondy delight, though it is very unlike a macaron, another morceau of delight aux amandes.

Financiers, known Down Under as friands, are called this due to their shape.

When baked in genuine tins, they look like little gold bullion bars. No surprise, since they were developed by the end of the 19th century by Parisian pâtissiers from the vicinity of French stock exchange.

As they became the favoured snack of the banker suits, they had to be dainty and neat, in order not to mess up said suits.

If it wasn’t for the fact that these little cakes require about half an hour’s hard work buttering and flouring a 24 mini muffin tin, I’d be making them every week.

Twenty four sounds like a lot of cakes but it really isn’t. Mine are usually all gone in a couple of days.

Buttering tins aside, they are the ‘mix everything together’ type of cakes.

financier biscuits cuisinefiend.com

Madeleines vs. financiers

When you think of a French gateaux aux amandes, tiny and elegant, just basically egg whites, butter and copious amounts of chic, madeleines come to mind with their Proustian flavours and le temps perdu.

The difference is subtle but distinct. Madeleines contain only a little plain and almond flour so the result is very airy and very spongy.

Madeleines, when baked, should be barely coloured, pale and dainty while financiers look like mini cakes, no doubt about it. The flour content of madeleines is less than half compared to friands – so they are ghostly and ethereal and very Proustian.

I’ll wager M. Proust picked the cake purely because ‘madeleine’ is more romantic than ‘financier’.

Still, these little beauties can give you – albeit not Proustian – 24 totally blissful moments.

almond financier biscuits cuisinefiend.com

How to make brown butter

The key ingredient both in madeleines and financiers is beurre noisette, nutty or brown butter.

It is basically clarified butter which has been given a couple more minutes on the hob. As the butter melts and heats up, the milky protein particles separate and drop to the bottom of the pan.

This is a care-requiring process as they need to nearly burn: the buttery smell turns distinctly nutty and that’s what you need to watch for. Snatch the pan off the hob, strain the butter into a clean bowl and that’s it.

But note that you might want to make double the amount to keep in the fridge as an indulgent substitute for ordinary butter.

brown butter cuisinefiend.com

How to mix financier batter

As mentioned above, this is batter simply mixed in a bowl. All the dry ingredients including lemon zest are stirred together and the egg whites, lightly beaten just to break them up, are mixed in to form a paste.

financier batter cuisinefiend.com

Brown butter with some honey, for the flavour, is then added and that’s all there is to it.

As I said, if it wasn’t for the preparation of the tin, I could whip them up every other day.

how to prepare tin for financiers

You might think there’s a simple solution to that painstaking buttering: muffin cases.

That’s true but I’m a little reluctant to use them. These are no ordinary muffins after all. Sticking them into muffin cases feels slightly denigrating. Or perhaps I’m just a financier snob?

Whether in vulgar cases or refinedly nude, baking takes just under fifteen minutes in a fairly hot oven, until the financiers are golden and the almond flakes sprinkled on top are lovely and toasted.

baking financiers cuisinefiend.com

More French biscuits recipes

Mouchous, traditional macarons basques, easier to make than the Parisian variety but just as delicious though presented individually and quite rustic compared to Paris macarons.

Orange dacquoise biscuits, chewy almond cookies made with egg whites, are like a meringue that changed its mind at the last minute and turned into sponge batter.

Poilâne corn sablé biscuits, made to the recipe from Poilâne bakery with very fine corn flour, look like little suns. Sablés are French shortbreads: sandy coloured and deliciously crunchy.

More almond pastry recipes

Almond cake with fresh raspberries, flavoured with cinnamon and lemon zest. It’s flourless, dairy and gluten free, yet wonderfully airy and soft.

Swedish almond caramel cake, Toscakaka, is a lovely and easy cake to make ahead. Bake the base in advance, then add caramel topping and blast it under the grill just before serving.

Ricciarelli, almond shaped and almond flavoured biscuits from Siena, traditionally made and gifted for Christmas. An authentic recipe for these delightful marzipan sweets.

friands cuisinefiend.com



Financiers

Servings: 24 mini or 12 muffin sized cakesTime: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 100g (7 tbsp) unsalted butter plus 1 tbsp to grease the tin
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 40g (5 tbsp) plain flour, plus more for dusting
  • 130g (1 cup) icing sugar
  • 140g (1½ cup) ground almonds
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • zest grated from 1 lemon
  • 3 egg whites (90g), lightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp flaked almonds


METHOD

1. Prepare the tin by buttering very thoroughly each hole, bottom and sides, in a 24-mini muffin tin (you can use ordinary muffin tin but the financiers won’t be as prettily dainty). Liberally sprinkle flour over the tin and turn it around to coat each hole. Shake off excess flour. Chill the tin in the fridge while you’re preparing the brown butter and making the mix.

2. Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Let it foam, sizzle and spit but start watching when it goes quiet – that’s when it browns quite quickly. When the milky particles have all dropped to the bottom of the pan and turned very dark brown, it’s ready.

3. Strain the butter into a clean bowl – you should get about 80g brown butter – stir in the honey and put aside to cool down.

4. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6.

5. In a large bowl stir together the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds, salt and lemon zest. Add the egg whites and stir to a paste. Mix in the brown butter and stir until it is absorbed and the mixture is smooth.

6. Spoon the batter into the tins; they will be nearly full. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake for 13 minutes (15-16 for the larger muffin-sized ones), until golden and slightly darker around the edges.

7. Remove from the oven and cool the financiers in the tin for at least 10 minutes. Carefully remove from the tin, with help of a thin sharp knife if necessary (that’s where it turns out how well you prepared the tin).

8. The financiers will keep for a week in an airtight container.

Originally published: Wed, 6 February, 2019


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Antonio Baptista
Financier biscuits is a beautiful desert.....used to make them many times....
5 years ago
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Hello! I'm Anna Gaze, the Cuisine Fiend. Welcome to my recipe collection.

I have lots of recipes for you to choose from: healthy or indulgent, easy or more challenging, quick or involved - but always tasty.


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