Another fabulous recipe passed down to me by my Grandma. She made these Friands a few moths ago and fortunately they hadn't
all been eaten. There was one left for me to try, lucky last, and it was so delicious I had to get that recipe. My Grandma's original recipe wasn't lemon poppy seed, but I decided to make my own variation on it. Friands really lend themselves to different flavour combinations and I'm a big fan of lemon poppy seed muffins, so I was keen to put those flavours into something else.
Friands have such a different texture to the usual cupcakes or muffins. The mix of almond meal and all the egg whites create a crisp, chewy-like texture on the outside and a marshmallowy, but slightly dense texture on the inside. They keep well in an airtight container, and even though the crispness on the outside lessens slightly, they are still delightfully chewy. As friands have a particular shape and size, make sure you've got yourself a tin made specifically for baking friands.
Ingredients: Makes 12 – 14
200g butter
2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 ½ cups almond meal
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Zest of 1 large lemon or 2 medium lemons
If you love berries, you can substitute the lemon zest and poppy seeds with 150g of your favourite berries.
Method:
• Preheat oven to 210 degrees (fan forced) and make sure you have your Friand specific tin at hand.
• In a small saucepan, melt the butter over a gentle heat and cook until golden, (about 4 or 5 minutes). Then remove from heat and let cool for around 15 minutes.
• Into a large mixing bowl, sift the icing sugar and plain flour, stir to combine.
• Add the cooled butter, vanilla, almond meal, poppy seeds and lemon zest to the icing sugar and plain flour and mix well.
• In a separate mixing bowl, beat the 6 egg whites into nearly stiff peaks.
• Gradually incorporate the egg whites into the other ingredients and stir until the mix is well combined.
• Fill the friand tin ¾ full with mix and bake at 210 degrees for 5 mins.
• After the 5 minutes, turn the oven down to 180 degrees and bake for a further 12 minutes approximately.
• Let friands cool in tin, then turn out and serve.
Friands fresh from the oven
The perfect treat to take to brunch, a picnic or afternoon tea.
