Blackberry Financiers

You are not alone if you have never heard of a financier; until a week ago, neither had I. My husband and I had brunch at a local french bakery, and they had these amazing little “muffins.” Come to find out, they were in fact a french cake, a financier. My husband requested that I learn to make them…so I took on the challenge, and the result was delightful. A financier by definition is a light, moist teacake, similar to sponge cake, and usually contains almond flour, crushed or ground almonds, or almond flavoring. The distinctive feature of the recipe is beurre noisette (brown butter). Financiers can be made with many different fruits or flavors, but with blackberries in season, I took the opportunity to make bake perfect mini blackberry financiers.

Blackberry Financiers
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Cook time: 
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Serves: 35 mini cakes
 

Ingredients
  • ½ cup plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 cup sliced almonds or 1 cup ground almonds (almond flour)
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • nonstick vegetable spray or mini muffin liners
  • 2 cups fresh (or frozen, thawed) blackberries, halved

Instructions
  1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until browned bits begin to form. Continue to simmer frequently scraping up browned bits at bottom of pan, until dark brown, but not burnt, about 6-7 minutes. Do not take your eyes off the saucepan has the butter can burn in an instant.
  2. Scrape the butter and the browned bits into a medium bowl and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
  3. Next, process almonds and flour in a food processor until nuts are finely ground. (I used ground almonds/almond flour - also 1 cup)
  4. Transfer to a medium bowl, whisk in 1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar.
  5. Add egg whites and mix until smooth.
  6. Fold in honey.
  7. Fold browned butter into batter.
  8. Cover and chill for 1½ hours.
  9. Place the rack in the middle and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  10. Coat muffin cups with non-stick spray, or use muffin liners for easier release. Fill cups to ¾ full and press 2 blackberry halves into the batter.
  11. Bake until cakes are golden brown and just cooked through, 15-16 minutes.
  12. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then remove cakes from pan.
  13. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

Notes
You can also make them in standard cupcake size or mini loaf pans, just add more blackberries into the larger cakes.

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About Sheena

There are many different facets of interest in my personal and professional life. My passion for baking has developed over the past several years; I love the satisfaction of sharing my delicious treats with friends and family. My sweet tooth, and love of baking is quite contradictory of my profession. I am a dentist, and currently a post-doctoral student, studying a dental specialty. My other interest is health and fitness...again...quite controversial of my baked goods..but, I believe....all things in moderation. I enjoy running and working out, and even making healthy entrees for my husband and I. After following several other food blogs, I decided, that this would be a new hobby. I am passionate about everything I take part in, and hope that you enjoy this blog and that it inspires you to make each day delicious with homemade prepared meals....and desserts :)
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One Response to Blackberry Financiers

  1. Christin M says:

    I didn’t know what a financier was, but now I want to make them. They look delicious!