musicfortheyears

Makes 12 heart shaped financiers/friands
175g unsalted butter
3 whole star anise
175g demerara sugar
175g ground almonds, plus extra for dusting moulds
6 large egg whites, (about 180 g)
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon microplaned orange zest
36 - 48 small, frozen raspberries
36 white chocolate chips
1/3 cup flaked almonds, roughly crushed by hand

1. MAKE THE BEURE NOISETTE: Put the butter in a small saucepan. Let it melt and then bring it to the boil over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally. As it boils the top will become foamy. Continue to cook the butter until it looks clear and the milk solids have dropped to the bottom of the pan and have turned deep brown. The butter should smell nutty. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a cheesecloth-lined strainer. Add 1 star anise to the strained warm butter and allow to cool to room temperature. Make a powder of the other 2 star anise by blending in a spice grinder. Set aside.

2. TOAST THE FLOUR: Place the almond flour (meal) on a baking sheet and bake for 6 - 8 minutes at 200 degrees C or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool down.

3. MAKE THE BATTER: Make the batter by whisking the egg whites and a pinch of salt till the egg whites become a touch frothy. Remove 3 tablespoons of the browned butter (For greasing the pans) and add the rest with the almond flour, sugar and a pinch of ground star anise to the eggs. The batter will thick - don’t worry. Allow to rest in the fridge for four hours or overnight. Note that you can refrigerate the batter for up to three days.

4. TO BAKE: Preheat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade. Then grease mini muffin tins, financier moulds or cookie tins with the beurre noisette or plain melted butter then dust with flour and tap out the excess.

5. Stir in the microplaned orange zest to the mixture along with the chocolate chips, whisking well to combine. Fill the moulds with the batter about 3/4s full as the cakes will rise. Stud with 3-4 raspberries and sprinkle over the crushed flaked almonds over the top.

6. Bake in the centre of the oven for 12 - 14 minutes or till the friands/financiers are golden, puffed up, springy to the touch with slightly crusty edges. They should still feel a touch soft.

7. Allow them to stand for a few minutes once out of the oven. Loosen the edges and bottom with a rubber knife or small spatula and then remove to a rack to cool completely. The bottoms have a tendency to be a bit sticky when still warm, so you may want to put them upside down on the rack, or put them on a sheet of parchment paper.

8. Enjoy with a nice cup of mint tea! Or coffee.

   ASK THE HOTLINE ABOUT THIS STEP!

9. Variations: Cherries; Chocolate, with the addition of cocoa powder, Matcha (green tea), Chopped nuts and dried fruit……And on and on and on.

robotheartrecipes:

Flourless Almond Butter Cookies with Mexican Flair
Makes about 2 Dozen

I have been majorly craving cookies lately, but with the end of summer heat wave we had been experiencing, baking was unappealing. Since temps dropped this weekend, I decided it was time to bust out the ol’ cookie sheets. I wanted to make a cookie that would compliment the Mexican-influenced flavors of my meal so I decided to adapt one of my favorite cookies with some Mexican flair. I used piloncillo an unrefined sugar commonly used in Mexican baking. It comes in little compressed cones and tastes a lot like brown sugar mixed with molasses. I also incorporated Mexican chocolate, which is a sugary sweet chocolate laced with cinnamon. Mexican chocolate is readily available in many grocery stores—check the Hispanic or ethnic foods section. Piloncillo may be more challenging to find and might require a visit to a specialty store in some areas. These cookies turned out wonderful—we almost spoiled our dinner gobbling them down beforehand!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup almond butter

3/4 grated or finely chopped piloncillo (or equal amount of brown sugar + 1 teaspoon molasses)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped Mexican chocolate (such as Ibarra)

INSTRUCTIONS

Step One: Preheat oven to 350°F, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a large bowl, stir together almond butter, piloncillo, egg, baking soda, salt, and vanilla until well combined. Stir in chopped chocolate.

Step Two: With moistened hands, roll dough, about 1 heaping tablespoon at a time, into balls. Place 2 inches apart on two baking sheets.

Step Three: Bake until cookies are golden and puffed, about 12 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

Source: Adapted from “Flourless Peanut-Chocolate Cookies,” from “Everyday Food” on PBS. View the original recipe on PBS.org.

3 cups whole wheat flour (see note above)
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes (see note above)
1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (If you have no parchment, you can butter the sheets.)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.

Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix just until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate, and mix on low speed until evenly combined. (If you have no stand mixer, you can do all of this with handheld electric beaters and/or a large, sturdy spoon.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then use your hands to turn and gently massage the dough, making sure all the flour is absorbed.

Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons in size onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie. (I was able to fit about 8 cookies on each sheet, staggering them in three rows.)

Bake the cookies for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

These cookies are very good while still warm from the oven, but I find that you can taste the wheat more – in a good way – once they’ve cooled.

Yield: about 20 cookies
via http://orangette.blogspot.com/

(via artpixie)

I love those jam filled cookies

(via scatteredwords)

I really wanna make some cookies like the old times..

I haven’t baked or cooked anything since a few months now…

miss it  lots.:P