Friands from Oz, Financiers from France

I recently got an email from a food friend asking if I knew anything about Australian friands.  I was pretty sure I knew zip, but I was intrigued by the word because I knew it in French.  Kind of.  I knew the word friandise, which refers to a small delicacy – think petit four – and I thought I knew the word friand as another name for a financier.  I planned to do a little research, but before I could pull down a single book, I found Australian friands in the May issue of Bon Appetit.  I felt just like I did when I was a child, when as soon as I’d learn a new word, I’d see it or hear it.

In fact, the Bon Ap recipe was for a small cake that was clearly related to the French financier, one of my all-time favorite pastries.  I love everything about financiers, from their history and their name, to the way they’re made and the way they taste.

The financier is a pure-bred Parisian, having been created in the late nineteenth century by a pastry chef named Lasne, who had a shop on the rue Saint-Denis near the Bourse, the city’s stock exchange.  Lasne had a bead on his clients:  he knew that they were rich, discriminating and always in a hurry, so he designed his little unglazed cookie-cake so that it could be eaten without a knife, fork or spoon and without risk to suit, shirt or tie.  It was an early and classy form of fast food.

Financiers are as rich as the bankers they were named for.  They’re made from ground almonds, sugar, unwhipped egg whites, flour and an enormous quantity of melted butter, which is cooked until it is golden brown.  And, in keeping with the theme, the cakes were originally baked in rectangular pans, so that they ended up resembling ingots.

These cakes are sweet, tender and beautiful in their simplicity.  They have a nutty flavor from the browned butter and are perfect, served without any accompaniment or fuss, with coffee or tea. 

And they’re amenable to additions. They’re great with berries (not strawberries, because they’re too watery) and they’re happy to be made in whatever molds you have available.  You can make them bigger (I’ve made 8-inch round financiers, glazed them with ganache and called the dessert a torte) smaller, boat-shaped, square or round. 

Actually, for years, before I invested in rectangular financier molds, I made the pastries in mini-muffin pans and pressed a sliver of fruit into the batter.  Maybe I was Australian in another life because, as near as I can figure it, friands from Oz are made in small mini-muffin-like pans and usually have fruit in the batter.

If anyone from Australia wants to weigh in, I’d love to hear from you.

In the meantime, here’s a recipe for a classic French financier, one I learned to make from Parisian pastry chef/bread baker Jean-Luc Poujauran.  Feel free to play around with it or even to Australianize it.

FINANCIERS

Adapted from Paris Sweets, Great Desserts from the City’s Best Pastry Shops

Makes 12 cookies

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces; 180 grams) unsalted butter

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

1 cup (100 grams) ground almonds

6 large egg whites

2/3 cup (90 grams) all-purpose flour

Put the butter in a small saucepan and bring it to the boil over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally.  Allow the butter to bubble away until it turns a deep brown, but don’t turn your back on the pan – the difference between brown and black is measured in seconds.  Pull the pan from the heat and keep it in a warm place.

Mix the sugar and almonds together in a medium saucepan.  Stir in the egg whites, place the pan over low heat, and, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, heat the mixture until it is runny, slightly white and hot to the touch, about 2 minutes.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour, then gradually mix in the melted butter.  Transfer the batter to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, pressing it against the surface of the batter to create an airtight seal, and chill for at least 1 hour.  (The batter can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).  Butter 12 rectangular financier molds (these were tested in 3-3/4 x 2 x 5/8-inch [10 x 5 x 1-1/2-cm] rectangular molds that each hold 3 tablespoons), dust the interiors with flour and tap out the excess.  Place the molds on a baking sheet for easy transport.

Fill each mold almost to the top with batter.  Slide the molds into the oven and bake for about 13 minutes, or until the financiers are golden, crowned and springy to the touch.  If necessary, run a blunt knife between the cookies and the sides of the pans, then turn the cookies out of their molds and allow them to cool to room temperature right side up on cooling racks.

Comments

[Corry Garams]

Corry from Melbourne, Australia. I just found your lovely site hence the long delay in weighing in. It seems that Australia has taken the friand on with great zeal. The trend down here in Oz started around 1999. You would see them in little coffee shops etc. I was fascinated as I had also seen the financiers in French books. This lead me on to do further research. I have been collecting recipes since I had my first bite. The only difference is that financiers are made in the flatter tins and no fruit is added. The basic recipe is the same as for financiers, up to the browned butter. All ingredients are then just mixed in the bowl without cooking further. And there are endless varieties. The type of nut meal can be exchanged for other similar textured nuts. The variety of fruit used is endless and can be mixed through the mixture or left on top. Some recipes add poppy seeds/lemon or orange zest/choc chips and marshmallows etc. Shapes vary as others have said. Our Oz kitchen shops sell a tray - 12 oval shapes, each 3 1/2" long x 1 1/2 wide x 1 1/2 inches deep especially for friands. Your recipe is just right for the 12 friands.

[Dorie]

Lexi, mixing fruit pulp into the mixture sounds like a great thing to do. Thanks for sharing this technique.

[lexi]

I'm an American expat living in Australia for 10 years. I am also a professional baker. For the last couple of years I've been baking many flavours of friands in mini paper Pannetone moulds. Rather than simply placing pieces of fruit on top of the friands prior to baking which doesn't really lend any flavour to the cake itself, I add the mashed or pureed fruit to the batter. Passionfruit pulp works extremely well as does blood orange. Also, the ground nuts needen't be almonds; ground hazelnuts and pistachios work very well too.

[Dorie]

Anne from Australia -- many thanks for the recipe -- it looks good, as rich as you said and as rich as it's supposed to be! You're so sweet to have taken the time to share it with us.

[anne from australia]

i live in Australia and can help out with a recipe for raspberry friands!I have another recipe that is for strawberry friands - very yummy - but you make a plain friand and just put thinly sliced strawberries on top. i tend to make friands in mini muffin tins rather than proper friand tins as they are very high calorie- mini ones are great and as they are only about 1 inch round (hope that's right - i'm not great on your measurements!) you have a lovely SMALL treat.

INGREDIENTS
¾ cup plain flour
1 cup icing sugar
¾ cup almond meal
3 egg whites
125g butter, melted
100g raspberries

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease a 6-hole friand pan with non-stick oil spray.

Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl and stir in the almond meal. Make a well in the centre and add the egg whites and butter, and mix until well combined.

Set aside 18 raspberries, then gently fold the rest into the mixture.

Divide the mixture evenly between the friand holes and press 3 raspberries into each friand. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

Cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

[sarah]

I'm an Australian living in London reading an American blog... I had no idea that friands were getting such a reputation. They are so common at home, a smaller alternative to the muffin when you have a mid-morning coffee with friends. I guess their popularity has increased becuase of the massive cafe culture in the larger cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth have streets and streets of cafes with great coffee

[Dorie]

A Wagner bread finger pan? Who knew? I've had two of them for years and never had a clue of what they were. I can see how they'd make great financiers. Thanks!

[Catherine Iino]

I love financiers, too. I started baking them before I'd ever had a Parisien one, or even seen a photo, so I started using a Wagner "bread finger" pan that I inherited, and I still do. It makes 22 fingers--2 rows of 11, who knows why?--each one about 3 1/4" by 1". You see these pans in antique/junk stores all the time. Mine's aluminum, but they are often cast iron. Makes a great crust and a nice proportion of crust.

[ParisBreakfasts]

I always wondered about the story behind Financiers.
Merci!
There's a story behind every French cake I bet...

[Dorie]

Hi David -- I got the Jeff Koons espresso cups years ago -- they're from Illy Caffe, as I know you know -- and I love them. Just seeing them lined up in the cupboard makes me giggle -- they're both beautiful and delightfully goofy.

Sara -- I'm glad the measurements were useful to you. I don't always have them for my recipes and I'm rarely able to use them in my books, but Paris Sweets was one of the happy exceptions.

Dawn -- Jean-Luc Poujauran used to make his financiers as ovals -- I don't think they were as "heavy" as 1/3 cup, but I could be wrong. I hope you'll keep us posted on your friand mission.

[David]

Although I'm eyeing your gorgeous, buttery financiers with greed and desire, it's the Jeff Koons espresso cup that I'm REALLY craving!

[Sara]

Thanks for adding the amounts by weight in the recipes. Even though it's not really common practice here in Canada, it's what I use most. I am looking forward to trying this recipe!

[Dawn Ross]

Hello!!! i have just returned from an extended trip to Australia and New Zealand and fell in love with "Friands". I found them in nearly every cafe and luncheon spot. They were nearly always oval and about 1/3 cup in size. Once I had them as rectangles. When in NZ they also had them, but they were not as remarkable as the ones in Sydney and surrounds. I have brought back recipes from there and plan to make them. I would like to find a friand pan as they sold in David Jones (Sydney dept store). When served they had a blueberry or raspberry baked on top and were sprinkled with xxx sugar (icing sugar). I am on a mission to produce some fine friands and i thank you for your inforomation!!!