Friday, October 24, 2008

White chocolate and pecan spice friands for Sugar High Friday

White chocolate and pecan spice friands

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

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

38 comments:

  1. So beautiful! All those flavors must combine to make a tasty treat! Lovely photos and stationery.

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  2. Looks way too good. I want that stationery.

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  3. how they taste is the important part, so even if only one came out of the pan, I'd eagerly eat all the other crumbs!

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  4. Ha ha, happened to me a few times too :) Good thing you mananged to get one out for the picture.
    Love the combination of white chocolate and spices.

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  5. The dessert still looks heavenly, Patricia :). It also looks very cute in the photo!

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  6. I think I have the same pans, so thanks for the warning. Lovely flavor combination. See you at the round-up...if I make the deadline, that is.

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  7. That's for me that one isn't it? Looks delish.
    I've had stuff stuck in the pans/tins so many times, we should start a 'one actually made it' club!

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  8. It looks delicious, Patricia! I'm sorry you couldn't unmold the other ones. It happened to everyone.

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  9. Your recipes looks delicious!!!!!!

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  10. Cute AND yummy looking!

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  11. I'm sorry the others stuck, but that one is a beauty!

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  12. I love the Little Cafe Cakes book. Great choice and the friand looks fantastic...that means you get to eat the others with your fingers, ehehehe!!!

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  13. I never would have thought that white chocolate would be a good pair for spices, but after reading this, it makes a lot more sense to me :) It looks really moist and tender-- shame about the sticking, though :( Paper liners for next time, I guess!

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  14. You only need one for the photo! That looks so cute and delicious. I've never heard of Friands before. Thanks for opening my world to yet another treat!

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  15. That combination sounds great, I love white chocolate and nuts. Ah what a pity about the pans, it's so distressing when that happens!

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  16. All by itself... so sad and yet it looks like it got all the glory for a good reason. It's a beautiful little friand. The recipe sounds really tasty too.

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  17. What a great little dessert this is...white chocolate and nuts sounds delicious!

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  18. An excellent choice for SHF. So very pretty.

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  19. It could have been worse you know, they could have ALL stuck to the pans. ;) I love the flavor combination you have going on here, it sounds delicious!

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  20. i love all spice such a lovely spice. these little treats look just great!

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  21. Darling, you have an amasing taste in choosing a wonderful recipe, and an amasing skill to make them absolutely gorgeous!

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  22. Your friands look delectable! Makes me want to go make a pot of tea to go with this!

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  23. yum, white chocolate makes a good pair with pecans. hint of spice will lift the flavour up to another level! good on you!

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  24. I should use white chocolate more often. I do make white chocolate brownies, and sometimes melt it to dunk strawberries. But usually I forget that white chocolate can be such fun in baking!

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  25. Food Librarian, thank you - but that is actually a hand-painted plate. ;)

    Helene, it's a plate. ;)

    Deb, I took care of the crumbs, believe me. ;)

    Linda, isn't it frustrating? I'm glad I could save one for the photo. :)

    Sophie, thank you, sweetie!

    Aimée, I hope you do make it, because I know you'll take part with something delicious, as usual. ;)

    Nic, yes, that is for you, darling! ;)
    That club would have many members, as I have been reading comments on both my blogs! :)

    Vera, thank you! You're right... :(

    Shifali, thank you for visiting!

    Emiline, thank you!

    Pam, thank you, dear!

    Helen, I can't wait to try the other recipes on the book, there are many interesting things there!

    Mark, I would never have thought either. I'm glad Julie Le Clerc did. :)
    It was really moist, because of the ground nuts.
    Muffins pans and paper liners, yep! :)

    Shari, I was lucky enough to get one! :)
    Thank you for your comment!

    Lorraine, very distressing and frustrating... :(

    Alexa, thank you very much, dear. They were really tasty, despite being in pieces.

    Cathy, I'm a sucker for all the ingredients here, actually. :)

    Pea, thank you!

    LyB, you are right, darling - I should look at it on a positive way. :)

    Meeta, thank you!

    Gattina, my dear, you are far too kind!
    xoxo

    Veron, thank you! It would be great with tea, indeed!

    Arfi, it was my first time trying pecans, spices and white chocolate together, and I loved this combo!

    Lydia, I'm a sucker for anything white chocolate, so I'm always looking for ways of using it!

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  26. I bet they're delicious, even if they didn't cooperate. The ingredient list sounds divine--rich and tasty!

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  27. Your friands look delicious!

    It's a pity that you only could remove one from the pans....

    For me, the most practical solution it to use a releasing spray... There's not only an "unremovable" cake!

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  28. These look great and you are making me jealous with your pans!

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  29. Your single little friand sure looks gorgeous though! I'm sorry that the rest stuck to the pan.

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  30. Poor little perfect friand. Do you think he's lonely? LOL. I love, love, your plate.

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  31. lonely little guy. i hate when things get stuck to the pan, but at least you can eat the scraps! these sound wonderful.

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  32. Great entry for SHF! There are certainly worse things than eating stuck, broken up sweets, too. ;)

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  33. Friand,the survivor.It looks so good. It's sad only one was rescued from the pan, but it's alright, life is still sweet:)You did a great job nonetheless!

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  34. Hanne, very tasty, indeed! :)

    Leonor, thank you! I believe that complicated shape of the pans helped prevent the friands from coming out... :(

    Katie, thank you, sweetie!

    Kristen, they were eaten anyway. ;)

    Dragon, I love that plate, too. Tks! :)

    Cindy*, I did eat the scraps! :)

    Hannah, I believe you are right, dear. :)

    Farida, thank you very much!

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  35. they look great Patricia! And surely one good thing about them getting stuck in the pan is that you didn't have to share them :-)

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  36. these look so so nice. i don t know why sometimes pans stick like mad even if you butter them well, sometimes I have to eat crumbs hs

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  37. I have never heard of friands, but these look so nice that I may have to give them a try.

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  38. Wonderful looking friands! Wherever there's white chocolate - I'm so in, no questions asked. This is definitely going into my "to do" list. Thanks!

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