Recently discovered that I really like making financiers. I have a perfect old cast iron mold that give a nice crisp edge. It also is such a convenient batter #1 bc it can sit in the fridge for a few days which means almost instant little hot fresh cakes on demand and #2 bc it uses egg whites (i dont care for meringue or angel cake so never had good use for whites until I made the delectable little financiers!).
What I’m looking for are creative uses for financiers ie in fancy desserts etc. I am already waiting for strawberries for a strawberry shortcake variation.
My sister-in-law makes them with a piece of stone fruit in the center and serves with tea.
She also does a “Haphazard Trifle Thing” with financiers, fresh fruit, and whipped cream - there may also be a light drizzle of a fruit-flavored alcohol. Oh, and I recall one with poached apples and something orange (persimmons, probably) at a Thanksgiving gathering. That one had a pudding layer in it, I think.
Never made them myself but i had an amazing pistachio financier once that just had some decorative crushed pistachios on top.
Using them for a strawberry shortcake is brilliant!
Maybe you could use them in something layered like a version of trifle or tiramisu…?
Never made financiers, I didn’t have the mold. I’ve made madeleines that are quite similar in ingredients, more airy than financiers, main ingredient are egg white and almond, the version I made had fruit tea with dried citrus peel, delicious and full of flavours.
I based loosely on this recipe, but I add a bit more tea (since they were a bit old, I ), but result was excellent. You can adapt with your base recipe of financiers. http://chezpim.com/uncategorized/madeleines_madn
Thanks Naf, the chocolate ones look really good. They are very similar in appearance to the Viennese cake, rehrucken, that I make regularly.
On my list ‘to bake’
You dont have to have the molds, they work very well in small muffin tins. I just happened to have that old ci mold to try and it worked great. They really are easy and delicious.
Your molds are gorgeous. I wish I had more space to store proper financier molds.
A French bakery near us, which sadly closed, treated them like cupcakes. They would make them into mini cupcakes and top with hazelnut buttercream. For regular shaped ones, they would top them with cocoa nibs before baking and soak in an almond syrup after baking.
Do not chase the pistachio pastes and hazelnut pastes. I have gone out of my way to order them and did not care for them. Even the all “natural” ones I thought werent better than nut butter. Now whenever I see thise ingredients in a Keller or Ansel recipe, I just move on.
I don’t like most of the book, but my favorite simple financier recipe is in the Maison Kayser book .
Financiers are a favorite egg white use for me, too. The Sullivan Street cookbook also has two good egg white cookie recipes. For strawberry shortcake, you can use white cake recipes that use only egg whites. Many around, I use ATK’s.
Love the idea of the almond syrup! I looked at the Maison Kayser website and was awed by their pictures. Nothing even close to that level of pastries in Connecticut:(
I used Dorie’S recipe which slightly cooks the whites, almonds and sugar then mixes in the flour and brown butter. Looking at other recipes I don’t see the same method or same proportions of ingredients.
I’ve made the pistachio-berry financier in Baking Chez Moi a couple times, but not the recipe in Around My French Table. I’m intrigued by the pre-cooking of the ingredients. Hope I can get around to baking them soon.
The Maison Kayser recipe uses only 2 egg whites and makes 12 financiers, which just happen to be the perfect fit for a 12-count heart-shaped brownie pan I have. We freeze the leftovers and toast them in the toaster for breakfast. That book pretty much requires you use weight measurements, however.
K, took a bit but i finally remembered this post from david lebovitz with a recipe for brown butter financiers (!!!) , note his recipes uses 4 egg whites for 24 mini muffin financiers
So I’ve been reading recipes for financiers. Seems like since there is so little flour in them they would lend themselves to being gluten free. I have seen some recipes that substitute rice flour for the wheat flour. Anybody try this?
