Choc Chip, Fig, Pistachio & Almond Brown Butter Financiers

Just saying all those ingredients you know these are going to taste good. This was a bake of firsts for me. I’ve never made my own financiers before and I’ve never made a cake using brown butter (beurre noisette) before either. After baking these tempting little cakes I can safely say I’ll definitely be making both again.

I decided to bake financiers as I had two egg whites leftover after making a lemon tart and wanted to use them up. I’m not much or a meringue fan and all my other egg white cakes I’ve made in the past required more than two egg whites, so I went blog browsing and stumbled upon financiers.

These cute mini cakes are often served as part of an afternoon tea or after dinner treat due to their size and pretty presentation. You can buy oval shaped financier tins, but I decided to use some petit fours tins I had recently rediscovered in a dusty corner of my cupboard. I think their little fluted edges make them look very dainty.

They are quite dense little cakes, but this doesn’t mean they are heavy. They are simply moist, soft almond packed little cakes that reminded me almost of marzipan. The use of egg whites keeps them moist and light with an elegant pale coloured crumb.

The browned butter enhanced their natural nuttiness and gave them a greater depth of flavour. It was subtle, but definitely made a difference. I’m going to have to try it again in some other bakes.

A slice of fresh fig and a scatter of chopped pistachios made for an elegant finish. There is something about figs that just scream luxury. The other half were topped with slivered almonds and dark choc chips which stayed wonderful soft and melty after baking. When presented together I was really pleased how they turned out, and I loved the flavours of both.

Next time you have some leftover egg whites, bake financiers!

Choc Chip, Fig, Pistachio & Almond Brown Butter Financiers

Ingredients
60g butter, plus extra for greasing
60g icing sugar
75g ground almonds
25g rice flour
2 egg whites
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 fresh fig

10 pistachio nuts

20 dark chocolate chips

2 tsp flaked almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Melt some butter and brush the insides of 8 petit four tins or financier tins.

Put the butter in a small pan and heat gently, allowing it to melt and then come to a gentle simmer. Keep watch while it turns from pale yellow to a pale golden amber colour. Do not let it burn. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Put the pistachio nuts and icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. 

Mix together the ground almonds, flour and icing sugar in a bowl. 

Lightly beat the egg whites until they foam, but not hold their shape. Add to the flour mix along with the vanilla and beat together whisk a whisk.

Mix in the warmed brown butter a little at a time, until combined.

Divide the financier batter evenly between the tins, filling three-quarters full.

Cut the fig into quarters or sixths (depending on size) and add a slice to the top of half of the financiers. Roughly chop the pistachios and scatter around the fig.

Top the other half of the financiers with dark chocolate chips and flaked almonds.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tops look ‘set’ and very pale brown around the edges. They do not brown much. (I found the choc chip ones took 12 mins and the fig took 15 mins).

Cool in the tins for 5 minutes before carefully tipping out of the tins and leaving to cool completely.

Lightly dust with icing sugar before serving. Best eaten within 24 hours.

Makes 8 financiers