Blackberry & White Chocolate Friands

How would you begin to describe a cakelet as fabulous as a Friand . . . several little buttery and almond-ee bites of deliciousness doesn't even begin to do them justice . . . Similar to financiers, they are a French cakelet . . . normally composed of an ethereal mix of ground almonds and egg whites . . . and copious amounts of melted butter . . . but we won't talk about that.

I have made lemon ones in the past and they were quite quite fabulous.  I have seen raspberry ones . . . but with this being the beginning of wild blackberry season . . . I could not resist baking some blackberry ones the other morning.

Oh la la!   They are tres magnifique!  Moreish even.  Dare I say it???  I fear I must.   SCRUMMY.
They do use rather a lot of egg whites . . . but not to worry, so do Angel Food Cakes and we don't refrain from baking them, do we?   Of course not!

The yolks can always be used in omelets and tortillas and cakes where you want a lovely golden colour.  Not a real problem, but back to the Friands.

You don't really need a special pan to bake these in, you can also bake them in good nonstick muffin tins.  Just be sure to butter them really well so you don't have any sticking.  I do have a special oval shaped Friand pan, but it's really not necessary . . . You can dip the finished friands in a glaze if you wish . . . or you can simply dust them with icing sugar. 

Truth is . . . no matter how you choose to finish them . . . you will be no time in finishing them off, and by that I don't mean decorating.   These are tres impossible to resist.  Trust me on this.  But what's a poor girl to do when faced with such delightful little temptations . . .

*Blackberry and White Chocolate Friands*
Makes 18

Printable Recipe  

Tasty little bites of nothing that please on many levels.  Love, LOve, LOVE them!  Easy to make too.

10 large free range egg whites

300g sweet butter (unsalted) melted and cooled (1 1/3 cups)

175g ground almonds (2 cups)

370g icing sugar, sifted (2 3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 TBS)

100g plain flour, sifted (1 cup)

several handfuls of wild blackberries

100g of white chocolate chips or chunks

icing sugar to dust or the optional glaze

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/gas mark 5.  Butter eighteen nonstick friand pan holes well.  (You can use muffin pans as well if you don't have friand pans.)

Whisk the egg whites until foamy.  Add the melted butter, along with the sifted flour, sugar, and almonds.  Combine lightly together.  Stir in the chocolate chunks.  Pour into the prepared pans, filling each 2/3 full.  Drop two or three blackerries on top of each.   Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before tipping out onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Dust with icing sugar to serve, or use the optional glaze to decorate.

Optional Glaze:

130g of sifted icing sugar (1 cup)

lemon juice

Whisk together the sugar and enough lemon juice to give you a drizzle which coats the back of a spoon.  Dip the tops of the warm friands in this mixture.  Set aside to allow to set.