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