Lemon pistachio friands

Can you believe it’s July already?! It’s getting quite warm here in London, and these little friands are a little lighter than say a buttercream topped cupcake. Friands are similar to the French financier but with the addition of fruits or other flavourings; and commonly enjoyed with coffee. Here I have added pistachios which gave the friands a lovely nutty aroma.

What you’ll need

• 190g unsalted butter
• 60g plain flour
• 200g icing sugar
• 60g ground almonds
• 60g unsalted pistachios, finely ground
• 5 egg whites
• grated zest of 2 lemons

To make your friands

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Melt the butter and use a little to grease a 12-hole friand/muffin pan. Dust with a little flour, shaking out excess.

3. Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl, then stir in the ground almonds and the ground pistachios.

4. Place egg whites in a small bowl and lightly froth with a fork. Add to dry ingredients with melted butter and zest, stirring until completely combined.

5. Fill each friand/muffin hole two-thirds full. Bake for 25-35 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven, leave in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Tips:

• Ground pistachios doesn’t seem to exist in supermarkets in London so I ground them using a food processor.
• Dust the friands with icing sugar just before serving if you want some extra sweetness.
• The friands will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container.

Recipe adapted from The Technicolor Kitchen which is by the way, a really beautifully laid out blog by a very talented lady!