Cakes, Cupcakes

Pistachio Friands


Prep Time : 30 minutes | Cook Time : 15 minutes | Total Time : 1 hour | Difficulty : Moderate

Hello new friends! I was going to start off with something a little more basic and then I made these and had to share them with you. Who can resist pistachios + butter + tiny food that makes you feel like a giant? Not me obviously. Only a few ingredients go into these fabulous little cakes. A light hand with the mixing. Et voila.

First things first – prepare your pan by brushing with melted butter and coating with flour. Also heat the oven to 180C (350F).

If you live somewhere magical where you can buy pistachios already ground, then you can skip a step (yay!) otherwise you will need a food processor or coffee grinder (if you use a coffee or spice grinder you will need to do this in batches).  I like to use my smoothie blender as it does a great job of smaller amounts of things and gives a very fine result.

Grind the pistachios and sugar together until finely ground.  Once the nuts are ground tip them into a bowl and mix in the flour, salt and additional chopped pistachios and set aside.

Melt the butter and leave it to cool a bit.

While the butter is cooling, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Stir the cooled butter into the dry ingredients.  Gently stir in a large spoonful (about a third ) of the egg whites to loosen the batter then gently fold in the remainder.

Spoon into the prepared tin, dividing the batter evenly between the wells.  To make 6 full size oval friands, use the middle wells of a full size pan and adjust the cooking time to suit.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes rotating the pan after the first 10 minutes.  The cakes should be firm and peaked in the centre. If you are using a full size friand pan you will need to bake the cakes for around 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool in the tin for a couple of minutes before turning out onto a rack to finish cooling.

Beat the frosting ingredients together by hand and dollop or pipe onto the cakes. Sprinkle with something gloriously fancy.

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Pistachio Friands


Prep Time :
30 mins | Cook Time : 15 mins | Total Time : 1 hour | Difficulty : Moderate

Makes : 12 bite-sized friands

Irresistibly nutty bite-sized cakes, perfect for any fancy snacking occasion.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cups (80 grams) shelled unsalted pistachios
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) caster sugar
  • 1/4 cup (35 grams) all purpose flour
  • large pinch fine sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons roughly chopped pistachios
  • 5 tablespoons (75 grams) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 large egg whites
  • 4-6 tablespoons icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp butter, melted
  • few drops of vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp chopped pistachios/freeze dried raspberries/toasted coconut flakes

Equipment:

  • Standing or hand-held electric mixer
  • 12 well mini cake pan (1/4 cup capacity wells)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).  Brush the tin(s) with melted butter and dust with flour.

Grind the first measure of pistachios with the sugar in a food processor until finely ground but with some texture remaining. Mix the flour, salt, chopped pistachios and pistachio/sugar mixture in a large bowl and set aside.  Melt the butter and leave to cool a bit.  Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Mix the cooled butter into the dry ingredients. Gently stir in about a third of the egg whites to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the rest.

Spoon into the prepared tins and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, rotating the pan after the first 10 minutes. The cakes should be firm and slightly peaked in the centre with glorious golden edges.

To make the frosting melt the butter and beat with a spoon until the butter starts to set up again and it creams a little.  Dollop or pipe onto the cakes and top with chopped pistachios or other appropriate sprinklables.

Adapted from The Cooks Companion

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