blueberry & vanilla financiers/friands

After unpacking my bags and settling back into my bed for a good night's sleep, the first thing I did after coming back from holidays was to get into the kitchen and bake this tray of blueberry & vanilla financiers/friands. My parents had gone out that particular morning and needless to say, when they got back from the shops, they were gobsmacked to find me up nice and early, bouncing around the kitchen and not jetlagged nor still slouched in bed. I tell you, the trick is to watch as many movies as you can whilst on the plane so you fall asleep through them - that seems to be how I managed to get out of it.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Grease 9 holes of a friand tray. In a large bowl, whisk together 4 egg whites until frothy. Add 140g sifted icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 50g sifted plain flour, 90g almond meal, zest of 1 lemon and fold everything together gently. Spoon into the prepared tray and push several fresh blueberries into the top of each cake. 

Bake for 20 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave in the tray for 5 minutes.

Remove from the tray and let the friands cool on a wire rack. You might need the help of a skewer to help pull the friands from the side of the mould (do so lightly).

I actually didn't get around to trying Financiers (what the Parisians call them)/Friands (what we call them here in Australia) when I was over in Europe; spent most of my time eating macarons and more macarons (OMG they were so good!) However I did end up going to Fortnum & Mason for afternoon tea, which is precisely where this recipe comes from. Will get to posting about my afternoon tea in due course but have to say, their recipes are just as yummy as they are to have there as they are to make at home.

So glad to be back home with a kitchen to bake!