Orange blueberry friands - and Aragorn

Let’s keep on with the sweet posts, because I have a reputation to maintain. :D

On one of my rounds at IMDb, I ended up at “The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring” trivia and read that Stuart Townsend was Peter Jackson’s first idea for the role of Aragorn (which was a complete shock to me). Luckily Viggo *sigh* was chosen instead – talk about a perfect replacement. :D

I have some other great replacements here for you: orange zest for vanilla and blueberries for raspberries.

Orange blueberry friands

175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup (100g) ground almonds
6 egg whites, lightly beaten
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
1 ½ cups (210g) icing sugar, sifted
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour, sifted
¾ cup blueberries, fresh or frozen – I used frozen
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Butter well ten ¾-cup (180ml) capacity mini cake or muffin pans.
Place the butter, ground almonds, egg whites, orange zest, icing sugar and flour in a large bowl and stir just until combined.
Spoon the mixture into prepared pans – they should be just over ½ full. Top each friand with 4-5 blueberries. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to stand in pans for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Makes 10 – I made 1/3 of the recipe above, used 3-tablespoon-capacity pans and got 7 tiny friands

Grape nectar baby cakes

I have made several recipes from this adorable little book and loved each and every one of them. Now, Julie Le Clerc strikes again – the cakes are very simple, but the grape syrup... Yum! I bet it tastes great over ice cream, too – too bad there was none left for testing. :D

Grape nectar baby cakes
from Little Cafe Cakes

Cakes:
¾ cup (150g) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (127g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
½ cup (120ml) whole milk
1 ¾ cups (245g) self rising flour, sifted

Grape nectar syrup:
1 ½ cups (360ml) grape juice
juice of 1 lime
1 cup (200g) caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Butter and flour twelve individual cake of muffin pans or one 20cm springform cake pan*.
Cream sugar, vanilla and butter together. Beat in eggs and then milk. Gently stir in flour.
Divide the batter between prepared pans and bake for 15-20 minutes (muffin pans; if using the large pan oven time will vary) or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack then unmold.
Make the syrup: combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes or until thick and syrupy.
Pour hot syrup over cold cakes and serve.

* I made the recipe above and got 4 mini Bundt cakes (1 cup capacity pans) + 3 small cakes (1/3 cup capacity muffin pans)

Makes 12

Almond, vanilla and raspberry friands

The egg white saga goes on: what to do with all those poor egg whites left from the almost insane ice cream making going on in my kitchen? I did bake a batch of meringues last Saturday, but they ended up in the garbage can. I’m glad Julie Le Clerc’s adorable book was around – these friands are delicious.

Speaking of sagas, I don’t get all the hate towards “New Moon” – sure, it’s no “Raging Bull”, but that doesn’t mean it’s crap, either. I haven’t read the books but adored the movies, despite Bella’s annoying inferiority complex. Not to mention that Taylor Lautner is oh, so cute. :)

Almond, vanilla and raspberry friands
from Little Cafe Cakes

175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup (100g) ground almonds
6 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (210g) icing sugar, sifted
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup (105g) raspberries, fresh or frozen – I used frozen

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Butter well 10 mini cake or muffin pans.
Place the butter, ground almonds, egg whites, vanilla, icing sugar and flour in a large bowl and stir just until combined.
Spoon the mixture into prepared pans – they should be just over ½ full. Top each friand with 3-4 raspberries. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to stand in pans for 5 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Makes 10 – I halved the recipe, used 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffin pans and got 7 friands

White chocolate and pecan spice friands for Sugar High Friday

Or, “the poor little friand that stood alone”. Because the friand on the photo was the only one I could remove from the pans – all the other 6 got stuck! :(

I’d just received the book by mail and quickly looked for a recipe calling for spices (because of this month’s Sugar High Friday). I’d been meaning to try friands for ages and thought I’d found a great excuse for that (as if I needed an excuse to bake...) :D

My brand new small brioche pans seemed perfect to prepare such precious treats. Too bad it didn’t turn out as I had planned. I did butter them beyond generously, but...

These friands tasted amazing and were tender. I wish I’d gone the simple way and used my muffin pan.

This is my entry for this Sugar High Friday, a sweet and delicious event created by Jennifer and this month hosted by the talented and lovely Anita, who has become a book author!

White chocolate and pecan spice friands
from Little Cafe Cakes

100g unsalted butter, room temperature
100g white chocolate, chopped
1 cup ground pecans
6 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups (210g) icing sugar
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice

Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Grease well – very, very well – 10 individual cake or muffin pans.
Place butter and white chocolate together in a bowl and microwave on medium for 1-2 minutes, mixing in 30 second intervals, or use a double-boiler – you want the ingredients to melt, but do not let the butter burn.
Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir until just combined.
Spoon mixture into prepared pans; they should be just over ½ full. Bake for 25 minutes.
Let stand in pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Makes 10 – I halved the recipe and still got 7