Black Raspberry-Browned Butter Financiers
Buttery, golden, berry-topped cakes are quick to mix up, and even easier to snack on. Enjoy!
Equipment
- Standard Muffin Tin
- Medium Saucepan
- Kitchen Aid Mixer, Hand Mixer, or Large Balloon Whisk
- Rubber Spatula
- Sifter
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Cups
- Pastry Brush
- Measuring Spoons
- Small Offset Spatula or Butter Knife
- Small Knife
- Cooling Rack
Ingredients
- 1/2 (113 grams) Cup Unsalted Butter (plus 1 TB for greasing the muffin tin)
- 4 Large Egg Whites
- 3/4 (150 grams) Cup Sugar
- 1/2 (50 grams) Cup Almond Flour
- 1/3 (50 grams) Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1/8 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/4 tsp Almond Extract (Optional)
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (Optional)
- 3/4 Cup Black Raspberries (Any berry - cut in half or quarters if large)
Instructions
Prepare the Browned Butter & Grease Muffin Tins
- Brown the butter: place 113g (½ cup, 1 stick) of butter in a medium pan. Heat over medium, stirring gently to prevent burning. Cook over medium until milk solids start to brown, and the butter smells nutty. This will take 5-10 minutes depending on your butter, surface area of your pan and how hot you heat. Take caution to not burn the butter - the milk solids should be a dark chestnut brown, not black.
- When browned, pour the browned butter into a bowl to help cool it down a bit, and set aside. Melt the additional 1 TB of butter, the use a pastry brush to grease the muffin tin.
Prepare the Financier Batter
- Pre-heat oven to 375F, with a rack in the middle position.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites. Or, you may also use a hand mixer or large balloon whisk (plus some elbow grease!) and a medium-large bowl that is more deep rather than wide to help the folding process later on.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, almond meal, all purpose flour and sea salt. Set aside.
- Whip the egg whites on medium-high for 1-2 minutes, until fluffy (speed 6, 2 minutes on my Kitchen Aid) OR you may do this by hand or with a hand-style mixer. The goal is medium-soft peaks that hold their shape but are not dry and brittle (over-beaten).
- Immediately sprinkle ⅓ of the dry mixture over the beaten egg whites, and gently fold in with a large spatula. Continue until you’ve added the remaining dry mixture.
- Add the slightly cooled browned butter, and fold in until the mixture is combined - do not over-mix.
- Using a spoon or cookie scoop, divide the batter in the muffin tins. The tins will be about 2/3 of the way full, depending on how much air your batter has retained after folding. The cakes are meant to be small - so you may get more out of your batter than 12.
- Top each with the berries, using only a few per financier - using too many will result in too much juices oozing out and a soggy financier.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Test with a knife or toothpick - plunging into the center of one - checking to make sure it comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven, and allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes. Using a small off-set spatula or thin butter knife, remove the financiers and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Enjoy plain, with a sprinkle of confectioners sugar, or however you’d like! Best the day they are made, but still very edible a few days after. Store in an air-tight container at room temp or in the fridge.
Notes
As noted, any berry could work here - just ensure you cut them in smaller pieces if they are on the larger size. Larger pieces will exude more water, resulting in a soggy, un-browned financier top.
This is a great recipe to use any extra egg whites you may have. If frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge or in a bowl of room temperature water for a few hours. The white of 1 large egg is approximately 30 grams.