Financiers – Mini Almond Cakes with Brown Butter
Today is the first of a new category of blog posts called “Found in the Freezer.” Yes, we finally did a full inventory of the freezer – complete with an Excel spreadsheet! I found several ½-cup containers of egg whites, probably from a total of 12-14 eggs.
How did I end up with so many egg whites?! I do have a couple of favorite recipes: one, my favorite carbonara, that uses eggs and additional yolks (from the NYTimes Cooking collection, found here if you are a subscriber); and another that uses only egg yolks, a dessert we now call “Tarte Robert” because our friend, Robert, who always asks for seconds, has likened it to “heaven on earth.”
With one ½-cup container of egg whites I can mix up a batch of financiers, the French almond mini-cakes made with brown butter. I don’t have an official French financier pan, but my mini muffin tin works just fine!
Financiers
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
¾ cup almond flour
1 cup powdered sugar, loosely scooped
½ cup all-purpose flour, loosely scooped
¼ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ cup egg whites, from about 4-5 eggs*
½ teaspoon vanilla extract or fiori di Sicilia†
Melt the butter over medium heat in a skillet or saucepan. Be sure to use a light-colored pan so that you can monitor the color of the butter as it browns. Whisk gently as the butter cooks, but beware because it will bubble up and may splatter a bit. The bubbles on the surface will change size, and eventually you will see the butter solids begin to brown. Once the butter has taken on a nice golden brown, remove from the heat. You may notice that it is the specks of the butter solids that are darkening and not the liquid as much, and that’s fine. Continue to whisk for a minute or two after removing the pan from the heat so that the butter doesn’t continue to cook and then burn because of residual heat in the pan. Set aside and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Place the almond flour, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and mix with a rubber spatula to combine. Stir the egg whites and vanilla or fiori di Sicilia into the dry ingredients.
Pour the browned butter into the bowl, scraping out all the browned bits. Gently fold the butter thoroughly into the batter. This will be thick and you will need to take your time to incorporate a little bit of the butter at a time.
Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Scoop the batter as evenly as possible into the wells of a nonstick 24-mini muffin tin. (My nonstick muffin tin specifically said not to use any spray or butter because of the residue that often gets left behind, and I can remove the financiers with ease. If your experience with your nonstick mini muffin tin is otherwise, or you do not have a nonstick mini muffin tin, be sure to butter the muffin cups very well.)
Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when lightly pressed in the center. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.
*Whenever I make something requiring one or more egg yolks, I store the white(s) in the freezer, adding to any egg white container I’ve already started that isn’t yet full, if there is one.
†Vanilla extract is just fine, but if you can get the extract known as fiori di Sicilia (click for link), it will give your financiers – and other baked goods – a wonderful vanilla-citrus flavor.