Saturday, 8 August 2009

Lemon Friands


Lemon Friands

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a nut for anything lemon flavoured. It's always been one of my absolute favourite taste thrills. You could have a table lined with every type of pie imaginable under the sun, and I will choose the Lemon Meringue . . . every time.

My friend Lura lives in California and she has lemon trees right in her back yard. In fact they have a whole orchard of all different kinds of citrus trees . . . lemons, pomelos, grapefruits, oranges, kumquats . . . you name it, they have it and they only have to walk outside their door to get it. I can imagine it must smell heavenly when they are all in bloom.



I have often heard of a variety of Lemon, called Meyer Lemons. I've never had occasion to taste them, but I hear that they are thinner skinned and less acidic than most varieties of lemon. Perhaps one day I will have the opportunity to see for myself.



In the meantime, I make do with the ordinary variety that shows up in my local shops. I always buy lemons when I go to the grocery store. I use them a lot in my cooking. A small squeeze here, or a small squeeze there, salad dressings, cakes, cookies, icings, a small wedge in my mineral water . . .



And these totally delicious Lemon Friands. About four bites of the most heavenly little cakes in the world . . . just four . . . little . . . buttery . . . bites . . .

Lemon Friands



*Lemon Friands*
Makes 10 to 12
Printable Recipe

These delicate little almond cakes topped with a delicious swirl of lemon curd are absolutely delightful! These would be great for an afternoon tea party, or . . . just because! Simply wonderful!!

1/2 cup plain flour (70g)
1 1/2 cups ground almonds (130g)
1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted (45g)
5 large egg whites
200g unsalted butter, melted and cooled (14 TBS)
the finely grated zest of one lemon
5 tsp of lemon curd
icing sugar to dust the tops of the finished cakes
Optional: Whipped cream, additional lemon curd

Lemon Friands




Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Grease a 10 hole, or 12 hole friand pan really well. Set aside.

Mix the flour, ground almonds and sugar together in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites with a fork until foamy. Add to the almond mixture along with the butter and lemon zest, stirring to combine with a wooden spoon. Spoon into the prepared pan, dividing the mixture equally amongst the holes. Top each friand with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon curd. Use a toothpick to swirl the lemon curd lightly through the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove from the oven. Let sit for a few minutes before loosening with a knife and removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Dust the tops with some icing sugar. You can serve these with some extra lemon curd for spooning and whipped cream if desired, but they are really delicious all on their own.

37 comments

  1. Printed:) And thank you..I have the same affinity as you..They look divine!

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  2. These look delicious. I love lemon anything and like you, I also usually toss some lemons into my cart, along with limes.

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  3. SOLD. Four bites of Heavenly fluff will do for me!

    love, Angie, xx

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  4. Your description of 4 heavenly bites = Killin me! Love Lemon also.. Lemon anything... will try these, xoxo~Kathy ~ @ Sweet Up-North Mornings...

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  5. These are beautiful Marie. I am totally going to make these. The recipe calls for 5 egg whites and that's perfect as I was going to make ice cream and that calls for just yolks. Yummy, thank you!

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  6. SOUNDS BRILLIANT, WE HAVE MEYER LEMONS HERE IN AUSTRALIA
    MY FRIEND JUST BURIED HIS MOM THIS MORNING, SO, I'M GOING TO PREPARE A BATCH OF YOUR LEMON FRIANDS TO GIVE HIM
    THANKS

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  7. anne from up north26 February 2010 at 12:05

    These little friands sound amazing !! However, where can you get the tins from ? i having been looking on the net for ages, without much luck. Please help me to fing these elusive little tins!

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  8. Anne from up north, I got mine at Lakeland, Don't despair though, you can use muffin tins if all else fails.

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  9. these look gorgeous, and bet the taste is awesome, I wish i can grab one to have with my coffee
    thanks for sharing

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  10. Can I freeze these lemon friands?
    Thanks

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  11. Hi Marie, it's me again. Will the friands bake the same in the cupcake/muffin tin as I can't find a friand pan either.
    thanks

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  12. Carol, I have never frozen them so I cannot answer that question. Why don't you try freezing one and see what happens and then it all is ok, freeze the rest. Also you can quite successfully bake them in a muffin tin. Hope this helps!

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  13. Hi Marie,

    I don't think my friands came out good. I used almond meal in place of almonds, would this matter? Also I don't know the metric system when it came to the butter. 200gms was either too little or too much when I was trying to look up conversions. I'm going to try again. I made curd too but the recipe I followed was in metric too. I'll tell ya, Chef Ramsey from Hells Kitchen would call me a donkey! :-) But if you don't succeed try try again! Thanks

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  14. These look just divine and I am making these this afternoon, getting some practice in for the Fete in May I am baking for I am sure these will go down a treat, like you Lemon is my favourite flavour and I remember my Nans Lemon Meringue Pie like yesterday
    Thank you Marie for all your wonderful recipes

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  15. I am sure you will love these Wendi! They're fabulous!

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  16. I don't think the metric measures are correct - just made a batch and they turned out extremely greasy and unsweet.

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    1. I am sorry that you were not happy with this. I made this recipe exactly as per the metric ingredients. My conversions here are to the American ingredients, so the metric ones are the original measurements. As you can see from the photos, I did not have this problem. My friands worked out perfectly. Could it be your scales are a bit off? I don't know!

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  17. These little French cakes are divine! So moist and delicious!

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    1. Thanks very much Bea! I am so pleased they were enjoyed! Xo

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  18. Do you grind your own almonds or can you use almond flour. I have an old hand cranked grinder is that how you grind yours.

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    1. I buy my almonds already ground, or as they call it in America, Almond Flour. Its the same thing. Hope this helps!

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    2. Almond meal is quite different to almond flour, which should be used? Thk you.

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    3. I use ground almonds. In the UK they are blanched almonds which have been ground. I found this definition online: Yes, almond flour and ground almonds can be used interchangeably in most recipes. The main difference between the two is that almond flour is made from blanched almonds, while ground almonds still have the skin on. This means that ground almonds will have a slightly coarser texture and a slightly nuttier flavor.
      By that definition I would use almond flour.

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  19. Thank you for this, really awesome, gonna try it.

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  20. yummy food ! when i was taste it , I am so happy and surprised because of tasty food.

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  21. These definitely sound like they would make a nice addition to my holiday tea this year.
    Val

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Val! I hope they are enjoyed! A holiday tea sounds like just the ticket for what we are experiencing now! xoxo

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  22. Hi, when you say to whisk the whites till they're foamy, then the consistency is quite loose and more liquid than form? I.e. totally different consistency to making meringues or till stiff peaks. TIA Ann

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    1. Yes, you just want them to be foamy and full of bubbles. You do not want them stiff in The least. I hope this helps.

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  23. I can't wait to try these! Where do I get a friand pan?? What kind do you recommend?Thanks!

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    1. That depends on where you live Debbi! If you are in the US, you can get one here: https://www.amazon.com/Kitchencraft-Masterclass-12-hole-Non-stick-Friand/dp/B00GGLIQHG/ref=asc_df_B00GGLIQHG?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=79920803409779&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583520395350825&psc=1

      Let it also be noted you can bake these in ordinary muffin tins with great success! xoxo

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  24. Hi Marie,
    Could you use chickpea flour as a substitute if allergies to almonds? 🤔

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    Replies
    1. Hi there, not having done so myself, I had to look this one up to make sure. From what I have read the best substitute would be sunflower seed flour, which has a very similar consistency. It can however tint your baked goods green due to a reaction with the baking soda or powder (of which there is none in this recipe.) They say to avoid this to add a TBS of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Since these are lemon friands I would suggest lemon juice. Another 1:1 substitute for almond flour would be cashew flour, which would probably taste amazingly rich. You can make it at home with raw cashews and a blender/food processor. They did say that sunflower seed flour would taste the best. I hope that this helps and I wish I could say with some certainty that these would work, but not having done so myself I cannot promise you that it will!

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