This was meant to be the first recipe on my blog. And now here we are: a year later. But better late than never.

Why I love Financiers

Financiers are small French almond cakes and ignoring twenty years of Christmas biscuit baking, the thing I bake most often. There are many reasons for that:

• Taste: In my opinion, there isn’t much that can beat a freshly baked financier. It’s love at first bite.
• Size: They are baked in small molds making them perfectly bite-sized.
• Success rate: They are surprisingly easy to make and I cannot recall the recipe ever having failed (not something I can say about most cakes).
• Ease: The batter can be made a day in advance and can even be frozen without any issue.
• Yield: A small amount of batter makes a substantial number of financiers (it depends on your mold of course)
• Variability: It’s a great recipe for experimenting with various flavors and shapes
• Transport & Storage: They are very suitable for bringing even to the hottest garden party (written by yours truly during a historic heatwave) because they don’t need refrigeration

Yes, I am a superfan. No, I am not sponsored by FFS (the French Financier Syndicate).

The madeleine’s underrated cousin

The first time a financier crossed my path was in a patisserie shop here in Luxembourg. Among all the colorful entremets they look rather unassuming and are often among the last items left in the display case (undeservedly so). But that is quite possibly how I ended up with my first one.
Such an unflashy exterior is quite ironic given that their name may derive (more about that below) from the shape of the mold that they are baked in, resembling a gold ingot.
I do love a good madeleine, don’t get me wrong. Freshly baked, pretty shell with a perfect bump…it is quite heavenly. But financiers in my opinion deserve to be just as well known and highly esteemed.

Gold bars, nuns and stock brokers

There are several competing origin stories. One traces financiers back to 17th-century nuns who needed a use for leftover egg whites because the yolks were supposedly reserved for wall paintings. These cakes were known as Visitandines, after the religious order. Another credits an enterprising Parisian baker near the stock exchange who, towards the end of the 19th century, sold them as convenient finger food for busy bankers: no plate, no cutlery, no crumbs all over your suit. But then there is also a cookbook published in 1900 that attributes their invention to Rennes in 1835.
And let’s not forget the friand, often used as a synonym for financier, although traditionally baked in a different shape. Which story is actually true? No one seems entirely sure. But good recipes have a habit of finding their way through the centuries.

Naturally, I tried baking them myself. Unfortunately, the recipe I chose contained a typo: someone had misprinted the amount of sugar. The results were… underwhelming. That was enough to put me off making financiers for the next five years.

The secret: brown butter

The secret to a financier’s flavour is beurre noisette (literally nut butter), or browned butter. Butter is gently heated until the water has evaporated and the milk solids begin to brown. That’s where the deep, nutty, toasted flavours come from that make financiers taste like… well, financiers. I have recently come across a recipe claiming you can skip the browned butter. I won’t name names, but… Sacrebleu! Non!

My favourite recipe

Besides browned butter, classic financiers contain just icing sugar, flour, ground almonds, and egg whites. As I mentioned above, though, the basic recipe is wonderfully adaptable. My personal favourite is pistachio financiers, with or without raspberries.

They are baked at a fairly high temperature, which gives them beautifully browned, crisp edges that contrast perfectly with the soft, moist centre. They’re therefore at their best once they’ve cooled on the day they’re baked, but they’ll happily keep for several days. The one thing I wouldn’t recommend is eating them straight from the fridge: butter-rich cakes become quite firm when chilled, and cold temperatures dull the flavour as well.

As you might suspect from the title picture, I rarely bake mine in the traditional gold-bar moulds. A standard muffin tin (pictured below on the left) is a little too large, but mini muffin tins work beautifully. These are some of the moulds I use; most of the time I reach for the red silicone mini muffin tray. None of them need greasing, as financier batter releases very easily after baking (thank you butter).

Now, on to the recipe. This is my favourite variation, you’ll find the classic version further down the page. The method is exactly the same. Yes this IS the deluxe version, I’ve said it before: let the high calorie count justify itself.

Variations

As promised here is the traditional almond flour recipe. The preparation stays the same.

Classic version

The classic version uses only ground almonds. You could add a little lemon zest if you like, but honestly I think it’s an unnecessary distraction.

Makes about 20: 115g butter (1 stick), 90g icing (confectioners’) sugar (¾ cup), 80g ground almonds (¾ cup + 2 tbsp), 35g plain (all-purpose) flour (¼ cup), 3 egg whites (about 100g / ⅓ cup), a pinch of salt.

Hazelnut

The flavour of the browned butter already leans towards hazelnut. You can reinforce it by replacing the almonds with ground hazelnuts and even more so by replacing 20g of the ground nuts with 20g of hazelnut butter.

Makes about 20: 115g butter (1 stick), 90g icing (confectioners’) sugar (¾ cup), 80g ground hazelnuts (¾ cup + 2 tbsp), 35g plain (all-purpose) flour (¼ cup), 3 egg whites (about 100g / ⅓ cup), a pinch of salt.

Star anise & Blackcurrant

An absolute dream. In this version, the financier provides the perfect stage for the combination of star anise and blackcurrant. And the colour is quite spectacular, too. Blackberries also work well.

Makes about 20: 115g butter (1 stick), 90g icing (confectioners’) sugar (¾ cup), 80g ground almonds (¾ cup + 2 tbsp), 35g plain (all-purpose) flour (¼ cup), 3 egg whites (about 100g / ⅓ cup), 1/4 tsp ground star anise, a pinch of salt.
Blackcurrant Glaze: 40g frozen blackcurrants, 80g icing (confectioners’) sugar (⅔ cup), plus a few extra blackcurrants for decorating.
Defrost the blackcurrants and press them through a fine sieve. Mix the juice with the icing sugar to make a glaze, then spread it over the financiers. It should flow easily on its own, but not be so runny that it immediately drips off the sides. Place the blackcurrants on top while the glaze is still wet.

Walnut (with or without coffee)

I love walnuts, and my favourite large cake is coffee and walnut cake (inspired by many visits to the cafés run by Britain’s National Trust). Naturally, I had to come up with a financier version, too.

Makes about 20: 115g butter (1 stick), 90g icing (confectioners’) sugar (¾ cup), 80g ground walnuts (¾ cup), 35g plain (all-purpose) flour (¼ cup), 3 egg whites (about 100g / ⅓ cup), a pinch of salt.

Coffee glaze: 1 tsp instant coffee, 1 tsp hot water, 80g icing (confectioners’) sugar (⅔ cup), 20 walnut halves for decorating.

Dissolve the coffee in the hot water, then stir it into the icing sugar to make a smooth glaze. Spread it over the financiers. It should flow on its own, but not be so thin that it immediately runs off the sides. Place the walnut halves on top while the glaze is still wet.

Yes, the photo below shows the opposite order. Hopefully we all learn from our mistakes.

Happy baking! And please don’t skip the browned butter. 😉