Almond Berry Friands - Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free

A few weeks ago I made friands for the LA cake club meeting. Admittedly, I needed something quick, easy, and low maintenance to bring since I was running around doing last minute errands for the club. Somehow I settled on making these almond berry friands even though I've never made them before! Friands are very similar to French financiers. They're both made with egg whites and melted/browned butter, and the process is very much the same. In Australia friands are common and can be found in most cafes and bakeries, but pretty much unheard of in the US. My mom is in Australia at the moment so I asked her to bring me back a friand baking pan. I have to say I'm pretty excited about that. One day, when I open my own store front, maybe I can popularize friands over here ;)

The recipe is really a cinch to put together. You don't even have to brown the butter, but it does add a lot of flavor. Best of all, you can make the batter ahead of time and store it in the fridge until you're ready. My version is slightly more healthful, using wholesome ingredients like almond meal, oat flour, and only maple syrup as a sweetener.

If you make this recipe, let me know you think!

Almond Berry Friands - GF, SF

Author: Sara Tso / Matchbox Kitchen

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Makes 18-20 mini muffin size friands.

Ingredients

• 5 (150g) egg whites
• 1 cup (87g) almond flour
• 1/2 cup (48g) oat flour
• 6 tbsp (85 g) browned butter
• 4-6 tbsp maple syrup
• berries, fresh or frozen (thawed)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and grease a mini muffin tin (or equivalent).
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg whites just enough to loosen them up a bit. No need to whip them into peaks or anything like that. You just want to unravel the protein strands.
3. Add almond flour, oat flour, butter, and maple syrup. Whisk together until no lumps remain.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and top each off with berries. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until set. Let cool in pan then remove. To serve, garnish with a dusting of powdered sugar.

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