I’ve been wanting to make these frainds for ages! They are little ‘cakes’ that are make with egg whites and are therefore light and airy and often seen occupying the deli counters in Australia. They are a similar to financiers if you’ve ever had one but without the brown butter. In addition, I couldn’t resist making an accompanying creme anglaise with the 3 spare egg yolks!
Frainds (serve 6)
- 100g unsalted butter, melted
- 125g icing sugar
- 25g plain flour
- 85g ground almonds
- 3 egg whites
- 1 lemon, zest
- 65g blueberries
- Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease a 6 spaced muffin tin or 6 friand moulds with plenty of butter.
- Sieve the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and mix in ground almonds and lemon zest.
- In another large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy but by no means are you looking for a meringue-like soft peak. Just mix by hand or with an electric beater until airy and foamy.
- Fold in the dry ingredients followed by the melted butter until incorporated.
- Spoon into the greased muffin mould and top with a handful of blueberries.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes until cooked and firm to touch with a lovely golden crust. Leave to cool in the tins before removing and dusting with icing sugar. Serve with ice cream, a coffee or my cinnamon creme anglaise!
Creme Anglaise
- 6 egg yolks (3 from your friands)
- 65g caster sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 500ml whole milk
- 1-2 vanilla pods
- Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
- Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla and add them and the pod to a saucepan with the milk. Heat until just about to simmer and then remove from the heat.
- Whisk the yolks and then gently and slowly pour over the warm milk in a steady stream while continuing to whisk until all is added. Return the mixture to the saucepan and place on a very low heat. Stir continually with a wooden spoon to cook and thicken the custard making sure the heat stays low so it doesn’t scramble the egg.
- Continue to heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
- Strain through a sieve into a jug and serve.This could also be cooled and churned in an ice cream maker for a lovely cinnamon ice cream!
