Feijoa & Vanilla Friands

 

Here’s my last feijoa recipe for the season using the last few feijoas from our tree.

They are vanilla flavoured Friands with pieces of feijoa and sliced almonds on top and are light and tender inside…Just as these fabulous little French tea cakes should be!…and if you weren’t aware, as they are made with egg whites, ground almonds and rice flour, they are also gluten-free!

 

INGREDIENTS

2 medium-sized feijoas
250 g butter
8 medium-sized eggs (at room temperature & you will only need the whites)
2 cups / 300 g icing sugar (powdered/confectioner’s sugar)
1 1/3 cups / 135 g ground almonds
2/3 cup / 110 g rice flour
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract or the seeds scraped from a 10 cm / 4′ vanilla bean
3 tablespoons / 25 g sliced almonds

Icing sugar (powdered/confectioner’s sugar) to dust

 

Makes 9 or 12

 

Notes

• You could make hollandaise sauce with the yolks.

 

STEP BY STEP

For this recipe, you will need a 12-hole standard-sized muffin tin or a 9-hole Friand tin (oval holes). 

First, in a small saucepan, over a low heat, melt the butter. Leaving it in the saucepan, set it aside.

Next, preheat the oven to 150°C fan/convection oven or 170°C conventional oven, on bake, with a rack situated in the centre of the oven.

Peel the feijoas and then cut them into ½ cm thick rounds.

Then, cut the feijoa slices in quarters.

Next, separate the eggs, placing the whites into a medium-sized bowl.

Lightly whisk the egg whites until they are just frothy.

• What you are doing here is just breaking them up (this shouldn’t take longer than 30 seconds). If you over whisk them, your Friands will end up with a chewy, meringue texture. They won’t rise when baking, rather spread outwards and stick to the tin, making them impossible to get out (not trying to scare you, just want to spare you from making my mistakes).

After breaking up the whites, add the icing sugar, ground almonds, rice flour and vanilla to the egg-whites….don’t mix it just yet!

Start whisking it all together whilst pouring in the ‘still warm’ melted butter and…

…continue whisking until the batter is smooth and lump-free.

Then liberally spray the tin with non-stick cooking spray (including the top) and…

…then either spoon the batter evenly into the holes or transfer it into a jug and pour it in.

• As you can see they are quite full but that’s okay, they tend to rise straight up and not so much outwards.

Working quickly (because they need to get into that oven) place the pieces of feijoa all over the tops and…

…sprinkle the sliced almonds over too.

Place them in the oven and bake them for 30 minutes standard-size or 35 minutes, oval, Friand size or until they are golden brown and the centres spring back when you gently push them in. Also, a sharp knife or skewer inserted into the centres should come out clean and dry.

Leave them in the tin for 10 minutes (if they have overflowed a bit trim them with a knife).

Check that the Friands aren’t stuck (if so, loosen them with a knife) then remove them and place them on a cooling rack or…

…if you are feeling brave, carefully flip the whole tin over onto a cooling rack and then turn them upright.

If you like, you can make them look pretty with a dusting of icing sugar.

They are perfect for morning or afternoon tea, especially High Tea as they are a tea cake after all!

Lovely served with a little natural yoghurt or whipped cream. 🙂

Keepin’ em fresh – Keep in an airtight container in the pantry up to 4 days. After the first day, to freshen them up a little, warm each one in the microwave for 20 seconds.

 

Related Posts