I haven’t baked much lately. There was a series of heat waves during summer, so I avoided turning my oven on at all cost, and then fall came and we took some time off to go on a much deserved vacation to Oahu. After we came back, it took us a while to get back into our regular routine…
However, the holidays are just around the corner and I am feeling energized again! I stumbled on Claire Ptak’s lovely friand recipe in her beautiful book The Violet Bakery Cookbook and had to try it right away. I love friands. They are packed with an intoxicating almond flavor and they are just so moist and delicious, not to forget, pretty easy to make!
If you are pressed for time during the holidays and need to impress with a dessert, these cakes are your solution: they are super tasty, easy and quick to make and the pistachio/raspberry green/red color combo couldn’t be any more christmas-y! Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top and you’ve hit gold!
I had to adapt the recipe a little bit because I did not have everything on hand, and I did not exactly follow her exact instructions. Bellow is the recipe I made, but for Claire Ptak’s original recipe, check out her book!
Raspberry / Almond / Pistachio Friands
Makes approx. 10 muffin size cakes
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter, melted, plus more to grease the mold
5 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup ground almond
1/2 cup ground pistachios
1 cup powdered sugar, plus more to sprinkle the cakes
About 30 fresh raspberries
3/4 cup slivered pistachios
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven at 320 degrees.
Grease the mold of your choice. In this case, I used a regular muffin tin.
Using In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until light and fluffy.
Switch to a paddle attachment and add the wet ingredients (melted butter, vanilla and almond extracts). Mix at medium speed until incorporated, about 1 minute.
Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, ground almond and ground pistachio) and mix until incorporated, about 1 or 2 minutes.
Fill the muffin molds about 2/3 full with the batter.
Insert 2 or 3 raspberries into each mold. Be careful not to break the raspberries!
Sprinkle with slivered pistachios. Push them down a bit into the batter so they don’t fall out when the cakes rise.
Bake for 17 to 20 minutes.
Let the cakes rest in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.
Sprinkle the cake with some powdered sugar.
That’s it! How easy was that?
Don’t like pistachios or raspberries? That’s fine! You can simply replace them with whatever you like: chocolate chips, another fruit like cranberries, nectarines, apple or pear, or another nut like hazelnut. Once you get the base of the recipe, you can pretty much adapt to your taste.
In this case, I find the colors of the cake very festive without being tacky. It’s simple, elegant and delicious!
Enjoy!
