Pistachio & Strawberry Friands

From the blog For Love of the Table

185g unsalted butter melted and cooled (170g plus 15g for brushing the pans)

75g all purpose flour

40g finely ground almonds (almond meal/flour)

85g finely ground pistachios

225g powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 t. salt

180g egg whites (from 6 eggs)

1 t. orange zest

110g strawberries, washed, dried, hulled and cut into a 1/4-inch dice

1 recipe strawberry glaze (below), optional

3 to 4 T. chopped toasted pistachios for garnish, optional

Powdered sugar for garnish, optional

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Use a tablespoon (15g) of the melted butter to generously brush the bottoms and sides of the pan(s) (see note). This buttery coating helps create the crisp edges that are one of the special characteristics of a friand. Chill the pan(s) to firm up the butter.

Place all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Place the egg whites in a medium bowl and using a clean whisk, whip the whites until very frothy/foamy. It isn't necessary to whip them to soft peaks—you just want to loosen them up a bit.

Spread the dry ingredients over the top of the egg whites. Add the zest to the cooled butter and pour this mixture over the dry ingredients. Fold all the ingredients into the egg whites, mixing just until the batter is smooth and uniform. You may use the batter immediately or cover and chill for a day or two.

Divide the batter among the pans using an ice cream scoop. Fill each of the pans 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up. Scatter the strawberries over the top of each of the cakes, dividing evenly. (If any of the berries are touching the edges of the pans, use a fork to gently pull them away from the edge.)

Place the pan(s) on a baking sheet and place in the middle of the preheated oven (if your baking sheet is very thick or heavy, place it in the oven while the oven is preheating and then just place the cake pans directly on the preheated sheet). Bake for 20 to 35 minutes (depending on the size and depth of your pan) until the friands have risen, are golden around the edges and springy to the touch. A skewer inserted into the center of one should come out clean.

Take the friands out of the oven and leave them to cool in the pans for 3 to 5 minutes. Don't allow them to stay too long in the molds or they will stick. Turn the cakes out (running a sharp knife around the edges first if they seem to want to stick). Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool.

To finish: Dredge the cooled cakes with powdered sugar or ice them with the strawberry glaze. To glaze the cakes, place them on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Drop a blob of glaze on the top of each cake and spread out to the edges, allowing it to slowly drip down the sides. Before the glaze is set, sprinkle the top of each cake with a few chopped pistachios.

Un-iced, the friands will keep—in an airtight container—for several days. Glazing/icing should be done on the day they will be served.

Note on pans: You may use any shape of small, muffin-sized cake tin that you like as long as you butter it well and don't fill it any more than 2/3 to 3/4 full. You can use a muffin pan...or small loaf pans. I use a couple of individual cheesecake pans. These are similar to 6 cup muffin tins, but have straight sides and removable bottoms. The holes in my pans are two inches deep and 2 3/4 inches in diameter. I only fill them about half full (75g batter each) because I don't want the cakes to be too large. The recipe makes 10 cakes of this size. You could probably use individual porcelain/china/stoneware ramekins too.

Strawberry Glaze:

55g. strawberries, washed, dried and hulled

1 T. milk

1/2 t. lemon juice

225g. powdered sugar

Place the berries in a small bows and smash with a fork. Pass through a fine sieve, pressing the pulp against the sides. Measure out 25 grams of strained strawberry purée. Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl and add the measured berry purée, the milk and the lemon juice. Stir with a rubber spatula to make a thick, smooth glaze. It should be just thick enough so that it will slowly drip down the sides of the cakes when spread on the top. Adjust the consistency with milk, strawberry purée or powdered sugar. Cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.

Recipe adapted from Ottolenghi and Waitrose

http://www.forloveofthetable.com/2017/03/pistachio-strawberry-friands.html

As published on forloveofthetable.com