Friands

Another huge success on the baking front - I can never make enough of these - deliciously sweet and moist, with a tart berry centre.
A recent discovery was the bags of frozen berries in the freezer section of the supermarket which saves a few pennies in comparison to seeking out the fresh ones and it always means you have them to hand in the freezer.

Fruit Friands - makes about 12

125g unsalted butter
210g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
100g plain flour
110g ground almonds
5 egg whites
about 85g berries - blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries (my favourite)

Preheat oven 180c and pop paper cases into a 12 cup muffin tin.

Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat until golden.
Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl. Add the almonds and mix everything between your fingers.
Whisk the egg whites in clean bowl until they form a light, floppy foam.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, tip in the egg whites and fold, then lightly stir in the butter to form a soft batter. Divide the batter among the muffins cases.

Sprinkle 2 to 3 berries over each cake and bake for 15-20 minutes until just firm to the touch and golden brown. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.

To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar.

I know this recipe means you have a lots of unused eggs yolks, so I'm trying to come up with another recipe to counteract this (or freezing them). Currently thinking ice cream or custard....