blueberry pistachio friands

blueberry pistachio friands

• 19 Mar 2018

I have a new mini muffin tin and put the new pan pan to the test making a batch of blueberry and pistachio friands adapted from a recipe for blackcurrant friands I found in Plenty More by Ottolenghi.



Unusually for an Ottolenghi recipe, I needed to make quite a few changes to the recipe. The friands were very sweet so I reduced the quantity of sugar. The batter was also very soft and the first batch I baked was almost impossible to remove from the tin. I added a tablespoon of flour to the second batch, cooked them at a lower temperature and they came out just fine.

Here’s the revised recipe for you which makes 24 mini friands. If you only have one pan, once the friands are cool you'll need to regrease, flour and reline the tins before baking the second batch of friands. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Blueberry Pistachio Friands – makes 24

85g melted unsalted butter

65g plain flour

40g almond meal

35g pistachios, plus 1 tsp chopped to garnish

85g fresh or frozen blueberries, tossed in flour

Pinch ground cinnamon

100g caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

2 tsp mashed banana

2 egg whites

Pinch salt

Butter/cooking spray

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and flour 2 mini muffin tins then place a small piece of baking paper in the base of each tin.

Reserve 1 tbs of caster sugar. Place almond meal, pistachios, flour, cinnamon and the remaining caster sugar into food processor. Blend until a breadcrumb-like consistency then tip into a bowl. Add melted butter, lemon zest & banana. Stir to combine.

In a clean dry bowl, whisk egg whites with the salt and the reserved caster sugar until whites form soft peaks. Gently fold a third of the egg whites into the nut mixture. Once incorporated, fold in another third, along with the blueberries then fold in remaining third of egg whites. Pour batter into muffin tin/moulds – filling only ⅔ full. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, leave to cool before turning out onto a wire rack. Remember to remove the baking paper before icing the friands.

Lemon Glaze

100g icing sugar, sifted

25ml lemon juice

In a small bowl, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice to form a thick icing. Just before serving, drizzle the icing over the upturned friands, sprinkling with finely chopped nuts. 

I've been busily baking for Passover Week 2018 which will be coming to the blog next week. I can't wait to share what I've been baking.

See you all again next week.

Bye for now,

Jillian