Raspberry Breakfast Financiers

It is funny how the mind works.  Back in New Jersey, I had a well stocked kitchen with tons of baking sheets, muffin pans, cake pans and other baking equipment that I did not use as often as I wanted.  As baking ideas came into my mind, I would add different food to my pantry with the intention of experimenting and pushing myself to bake more.  As expected, a lot of what I bought went unused and now I miss it all.

Here in Istanbul, I have already stocked up on the essential tools that I need for baking but maintaining a kitchen that is ready for baking takes up a lot of space.  After the recent pain of packing up my kitchen, I am trying to keep my kitchen under control.  Hah!  We will see how long that lasts considering that I want to bake much more than I did in my old apartment!

As for these financiers, I made them a few weeks ago.  I picked up almond meal in Trader Joes with the all the best intentions.  Having never used almond meal before, it sat for several weeks in my pantry.  Finally, after searching through a favorite cookbook, I realized that I could make financiers.  This cookbook has many recipes for financiers that features a large variety of flavor combinations.  For my first attempt at financiers, I decided to try a traditional recipe with only a few raspberries on top.  I must say that they were delicious!  Light and sweet with just a little bit of fruit to add to the flavor.  I have the almond meal with me here, next I hope to try a more flavorful financier.

Raspberry Breakfast Financiers

Makes 8  

Ingredients 

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup almond meal
5 egg whites
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease eight reccesses in a mini loaf pan.

2. Sift sugar and flour into a large mixing bowl.  Add the almond meal and stir to combine.

3.  In another bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy.  Stir into dry ingredients.  Then stir in the melted butter until combined.

4.  Evenly distribute the mixture between the eight recesses in the prepared pan.  Top with raspberries, pressing them gently into the batter.  Sprinkle with the rolled oats.

5.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden and firm.

6.  Cool in the pan for five minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

~Rona