Blueberry Friand

I watched a contestant making a friand in a masterchef episode.  I hadn't heard of friands before.  Besides the lady made it in less than half hour.  That caught my interest.  I later read that friands are mini cakes originally from France, but now popular in Australia and New Zealand.  These have very little flour content and can in fact be made gluten free.  The main ingredients are ground almonds, icing sugar, egg whites - which make the friand light and airy and the almond flour makes it chewy and moist.  They can be made with varied fruits like plums, peaches, cherries.  I adapted the recipe from BBC foods  The reviews were good, and most had cut down the amount of butter to half.  I did too.  

Try them.  They are chewy, light and delicious and very simple to make

Ingredients: ( 6- 9 friands depending on the tin)

Unsalted butter - 60 gms + extra for greasing
Icing sugar - 125 gms + extra for dusting
Plain flour - 25 gms
Ground almond - 85 gms
Egg whites - 3 nos
Lemon rind - 1 nos
Blueberries - 85 gms


Preheat oven to 180C fan / 200C conventional
Grease six friand or muffin tins.  ( I used muffin tins and I got 9 friands)
Melt butter.  Allow to cool.

Sift icing sugar and flour into a bowl.  Add the almond flour and mix well with fingers.

Whisk egg whites in another bowl till light and foamy.  They do not have to be stiff like meringues.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, tip in egg whites, lemon rind, and lightly stir in butter.  You will have a soft batter.

Fill in muffin tin with a large serving spoon - 2/3 full.
Sprinkle blueberries over each cake and bake for 15-20 mins till firm and golden brown.

Cool in tin for 5 minutes.  Turn out. Dust with icing sugar.

Note - You can make ground almond flour at home also.  Blanch almonds, remove the peel.  Dry them and grind fine.