I wrote about my love for financiers long ago. This cookie is definitely something I enjoy making just as much as devouring. For anyone who makes dessert regularly, you probably run into the problem of having leftover egg whites from egg yolks-only recipes. My favourite recipes for crème anglaise, pastry cream, ice-cream, buttercream, even butter cake coincidentally all use six egg yolks. This six egg whites recipe for financier conveniently uses up all the leftover so I don't end up wasting anything.
Financiers are very versatile when it comes to food pairing. They are wonderful companion to strong tea or coffee. Though I would just as readily serve them with a creamy dessert.
Financiers
Yield depends on size of mould. I usually get 18-20 barquette-shaped ones. I often make double batch of batter and only bake as many as I want.
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets
Ingredients
- 180g unsalted butter
- 200g granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 100g ground almond
- 6 large egg whites, or 188mL or 3/4 cup
- 90g all-purpose flour
Method
- Make beurre noisette: put butter in a small heavy bottom sauce pan. Cook at medium high heat until butter is golden brown and smelling like hazelnut. Strain immediately into a small bowl and let cool.
- In a clean small heavy bottom sauce pan, stir together almond, sugar, salt, and egg whites. Cook over medium high heat until mixture is runny and hot to the touch. Remove from heat.
- Mix flour into the almond batter with a whisk. Work in the beurre noisette until batter is homogenous. Pour into a container and press a plastic food wrap directly on top of the batter. Store in refrigerator for at least 8 hours, up to three days.
- Preheat oven to 400F. Divide batter to financier or barquette moulds. My personal favourite is the silicone barquette pan in multiples of 9. Depending on the size of your moulds, bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Serve on the same day.
Variations
- Earl Grey Financier: empty the content of two Earl Grey tea bags into the flour. Stir to combine. Add 1 teaspoon of grated orange zest to the batter as you work in the flour. Earl Grey is a rather refreshing counterpoint to the richness of this cookie.
- Hazelnut Financier: replace ground almond with equal amount of ground hazelnut
- Pecan Financier: replace ground almond with ground pecan
- Black Sesame Financier with Poached Pear: replace ground almond with equal amount of ground black sesame. Just before baking, press a sliver of poached pear into the batter.
- Espresso Financier: stir two tablespoons freshly ground espresso with the flour. I originally thought the coffee flavour would overpower the delicate buttery nutty flavour of this cookie but turns out it complements very nicely.
- Chestnut Financier: to be experimented...though I think i would reduce ground almond to 50g and use 50g of chestnut flour. Put a glob of crème de marron in each mould before baking for a little surprise perhaps?
