strawberry friands

i'm back on track, on my regular track. i am on my holiday now! i have been enjoying my holiday for a week today. today, i woke up in a very good mood, big smile on my face and i felt so motivated. i have planned my self to cook a chicken laksa today and bake some cakes. maybe because of my ecstatic mood, everything tastes better than usual. the chicken laksa is so crazily delicious, i've eaten it for about, hmm.. 4 times maybe or is it 5, i'm not really counting. haha. unfortunately, i was just too busy eating it until i forgot to take a picture of it and show it to all of you. i'm so sorry, so i think i should stop talking about it before you all get more curious. now, let me introduce you to something lovely, see the heart-shaped strawberries?

another beautiful things i made today is friands. friands is basically almost the same as financier. well, financier are actually a French cake, a light, moist teacake which usually used ground almonds. financier according to wiki literally derived from French traditional rectangular mold, which resembles a bar of gold. while friands, popularized by the Australians and the Kiwis, is a modified financier with additional flavor like chocolate or fruits like berries and also baked in oval shape.

my love for this cake is actually haven't been that long. i just knew this kind of cake like a year ago and have been very keen on trying since these couple months. friands has been everywhere i look, i look at my cookbook - there are friands recipes, i look at other foodblogs - there are also friands, and finally i watch Masterchef - there is a financier. seems like this cake has been haunting me.. that's why i couldn't stop my self from making it today. haha. any of you interested and having a curiosity about this cute little financier? don't hesitate, just make it straight away..

Strawberry Friands
makes 12 mini muffin size

50 gr butter, melted, cool to room temperature
50 gr ground almonds
100 gr icing sugar
50 gr all purpose flour
3 egg whites
1/4 vanilla pod, slit open, scrape seeds
6 strawberries, hulled, cut half lengthwise

direction:

1. preheat oven to 180 degree C. grease a mini muffin tin with butter. set aside.
2. beat the egg whites with vanilla seeds just until frothy. sift the icing sugar, flour, and ground almonds into the egg whites. fold it with metal spoon just until incorporated.
3. add melted butter into the egg whites mixture, mix evenly.
4. pour about 3/4 tablespoons of batter into each muffin holes. topped each of them with the heart-shaped strawberry.
5. bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.

simple but lovely. this is my new love-affair.

in the end, thank you for reading everyone!

have a nice day.. :)