French Financiers
intro
Buttery, nutty small almond cakes with crisp golden edges and a soft moist center, made with browned butter for deep toasty flavor, perfect for gifting or afternoon tea.
Ingredients
Steps
Brown the Butter
Place 115g unsalted butter in the small heavy-bottomed stainless steel saucepan over medium-low heat. Melt the butter completely, then continue cooking, swirling the pan occasionally, as it foams, sputters, and forms golden brown milk solids at the bottom of the pan, 4-6 minutes. Once the butter smells deeply nutty and the solids are deep amber (not burnt), immediately pour into the small heatproof glass bowl to stop cooking, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Sift Dry Ingredients
Place the fine-mesh stainless steel sieve over the medium glass mixing bowl. Add 100g blanched almond flour, 120g powdered sugar, 30g all-purpose flour, and 1/4 tsp fine sea salt to the sieve, tapping the edge gently to sift all ingredients into the bowl, discarding any coarse almond lumps left in the sieve. Whisk the sifted dry ingredients briefly with the wire whisk to ensure even combination.
Prep Baking Mold
Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Use the natural boar bristle pastry brush to coat the inside of each cavity of the 12-cavity matte dark gray carbon steel financier mold with 1 tsp softened unsalted butter, then dust lightly with a pinch of all-purpose flour, tapping out excess to prevent sticking. Set the prepared mold aside.
Mix in Egg Whites
Make a small well in the center of the sifted dry ingredients. Pour in 4 room-temperature large egg whites and 1 tsp pure vanilla extract. Use the sage-handled silicone spatula to gently fold the mixture together just until no dry flour remains; do not overmix, as the batter should remain slightly thick. Slowly stream in the cooled brown butter, folding continuously until fully incorporated into a smooth, pale golden batter.
Fill Baking Mold
Scoop the batter evenly into the prepared financier mold cavities, filling each to 3/4 full (do not overfill, as the cakes will rise slightly during baking). Sprinkle the top of each filled cavity with a pinch of raw sliced almonds for garnish.
Bake Until Golden
Carefully place the filled mold in the preheated 200C (400F) oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges of the financiers are deep golden brown and crisp, the centers are springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with a few moist crumbs attached. Avoid overbaking, as this will dry out the delicate almond crumb.
Cool and Plate
Let the financiers rest in the mold for 5 minutes after removing from the oven, then use the silicone spatula to gently lift each cake out and transfer to the chrome wire cooling rack to cool for 10 minutes. Arrange the cooled financiers on the hand-thrown cream ceramic oval serving platter, and dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired before serving.
Tips
2.Use room-temperature egg whites for the lightest, tenderest crumb: cold egg whites do not incorporate as smoothly into the dry ingredients, leading to dense, heavy cakes instead of the signature soft, springy texture. If short on time, submerge the sealed container of egg whites in a bowl of lukewarm water for 5 minutes to bring them to temperature quickly.
3.For deeper, more complex flavor, cover the finished batter and let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour (or up to 3 days) before baking. This rest period allows the almond flour to absorb moisture from the batter and the brown butter notes to mellow, resulting in a moister crumb and crispier, more caramelized edges after baking.
OMG these turned out SO good! I brought a batch to my office potluck yesterday and everyone was begging for the recipe. The nutty brown butter flavor is unreal, and they were the perfect little bite-sized treat. I was worried they’d be too fussy since difficulty is medium, but the 15 minute cook time was totally doable even on a weeknight. My kids stole three off the cooling rack before I even got them packed up!
Tried these for the first time this weekend and honestly game changer. I’d always written financiers off as something you only get at fancy French bakeries, but this recipe was way more approachable than I expected. Only note: my first batch got a little darker around the edges than the photos, I think my oven runs hot so I’ll drop the temp by 25 degrees next time. Still tasted incredible though!
These are perfect for my weekly meal prep snack stash! I make a big batch on Sunday, toss them in an airtight container, and they hold up all week for my mid-morning coffee break. Not too sweet, which is exactly what I look for in a little treat. 10/10 will be making these on rotation from now on.
Wait, has anyone tried making these with a gluten free all purpose flour blend? I have a family dinner next weekend where two of my cousins are GF and I’d love to serve these instead of my usual sugar cookies, but I don’t want to mess up the texture!
Made these last night to go with my after-dinner espresso and wow. The brown butter step is non-negotiable, don’t skip it people! I thought about cutting corners and just using melted butter, but I took the extra 5 minutes to brown it and that nutty depth is what makes these taste like they came straight from a Parisian patisserie. SO good.
Full transparency, I’m a total baking newbie and I was intimidated by the medium difficulty rating, but these actually came out on my first try! I followed the instructions exactly, measured everything by weight like the recipe notes said, and they had that perfect crisp edge and soft, chewy center. My roommate said they’re the best thing I’ve ever baked, so that’s a massive win.
These were super tasty, but I had a little trouble getting them out of my metal financier mold the first time around – they stuck pretty bad even though I greased it. I ended up using paper liners for the second batch and that worked like a charm. Flavor is 10/10, just a heads up for anyone else using older metal molds!