Raspberry and Lemon Friands

Serves:

Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup gluten-free plain flour
• 180g icing sugar
• 100g almond meal
• Zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped
• 3 eggs
• 20 raspberries

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 12-hole friand tin (or use a regular muffin or deep cupcake pan).

Melt butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and cook for 1 minute or until golden. Sift plain flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl, stir in almond meal and lemon zest.

Lightly beat eggs with a fork and stir into dry ingredients, then stir in butter until well combined. Spoon mixture into tin, filling each hole two-thirds full, and gently press two raspberries into each friand.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 180°C and cook for another 15-20 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool in tins for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Notes:

• Friands have the lovely light richness of almond meal, a tangy citrus contrast and with a bit of luck, a generous amount of fruit on top. Raspberries being my favourite choice.
• Friands are my usual ‘almost gluten-free’ choice at cafes, but the quality is so variable I have perfected my own recipe. I adapted the standard recipe to include 3 whole eggs instead of 5 egg whites (don’t know about you but I don’t often find myself wanting 5 egg yolks to make custard from scratch) and reducing the butter to 100g.

Serving Suggestions

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