I can't wait to bake the Almond Vanilla Financier after learning it from Chef Keiko's Jap-French Pastries II class yesterday!
The recipe itself is relatively easy but the difficulty lies in getting the brown butter correct. I learnt that brown butter is also known as 'Beurre Noisette', referring to butter cooked till it becomes a pretty golden brown hue of the fat with very fine sediment of browned butter solids, and developing a very rich, nutty aroma and flavour.
It was not easy watching the butter as it would start foaming after heating and I couldn't see whether the sediments have turned brown. It would seem like foam and nothing, then all of a sudden the sediments turned brown very quickly and likely to burnt if not removed from heat immediately.
I kept a close watch at the butter so as not to burnt and waste it and it turned out ok! The nutty aroma was highly addictive and I couldn't help inhaling more of it... short of drinking brown butter on the rocks.
The financiers were not bad but some were more brown whereas some rose a little too much causing cracks to the surface of the cake. Perhaps I should watch the oven temperature and baking time more carefully next time.
Texture-wise, some of them were a tad hard and dry on the surface (due to overbaking). Taste-wise, not bad for a first trial. Yummy, I love almond financiers :D As almond financiers are on the sweet side, they go very well with tea or coffee.
A basket of individually packed almond vanilla financiers.
As Almond Financiers are very rich, they tend to stick together, so packing them separately would be better. Sounds like a nice gifting idea!
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