Chocolate orange friands

Serves:

Ingredients

Gluten-free (see note below)

• ½ cup plain flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 180g icing sugar
• 100g ground almonds
• Zest of 1 orange, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee (optional)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 4-5 tablespoons hot water
• 1 tablespoon Cointreau (optional)
• 100g unsalted butter, melted
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 12-hole friand tin (or use a regular muffin or deep cupcake pan). Sift plain flour, baking powder and icing sugar into a mixing bowl, stir in almond meal and orange zest. Dissolve coffee and cocoa powder in a small bowl with hot water. Lightly beat eggs with a fork and whisk into dry ingredients, then stir in coffee mixture, Cointreau and butter.

Spoon mixture into tin, filling each hole two-thirds full. 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:

• I make these when I don’t want to share! But to make them kid-friendly, omit the coffee and Cointreau and reduce the hot water to 2 tablespoons.
• Make gluten-free using gluten-free flour (e.g Orgran or White Wings).

Serving Suggestions

Note