Financier Patisserie, one of my favorite pastry shops in the New York City, has double meaning. One meaning refers to people working in Finance - the first Financier Patisserie opened in the Financial District (nearby Wall Street). Financier also is the name of a rich french almond cake, traditionally baked in the shape of a gold bar --- some says the almond cake is called financier because of its shape.
When a customer (who was mostly financier at the beginning, I guess) buy a cup of coffee or tea, he/she is always given a free mini financier at the Financier Patisserie. The crusty exterior and moist almond-taste interior makes it a perfect sweet bite with a morning coffee, and also afternoon tea.
Financier is very simple cake with simple ingredients; flour, butter, sugar, egg, salt and almond flour. Maybe almond flour is the tricky part... but it is simply ground toasted almond, and you can easily find it from grocery stores.
Financier - mini almond cake
(Yield: 20 mini financiers* / Cooking time: 30 min)
* Instead of the tradtional financier mold, I used a mini muffin pan.
Ingredients:
+ 70g almond flour (finely ground almonds)
+ 100g sugar
+ 35g all-purpose flour
+ pinch of salt
+ 90g egg whites (about 3 eggs)
+ 90g (~3oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
+ vegetable oil to grease the mold
+ (optional) slices of almonds.
Procedures:
1. Preheat the oven to 420°F
2. Grease financier mold (or, in my case, mini muffin pan) with vegetable oil.
3. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, sugar, flour, and salt. Mix well to blend without any lumps.
4. Beat egg whites little bit just until bubbles form. Add the egg whites to dry ingredients and mix well until thoroughly blended.
5. Add the melted butter and mix well until thoroughly blended.
6. Pour the batter into the molds up to almost the top. I think using a spoon makes the work much easier. Place the mold in the refrigerator about 15-20 min. Take it out and decorate each financier with a piece of almond (optional).
7. Ok... now baking. To achieve crusty exterior but moist interior, please follow the following 7-6-5 rules; By trial and error, I found this to be the perfect way for me to bake the financier.
First, Place the mold on the second top rack of the preheated oven at 420°F. Bake about 7 min. The financiers will be raised and have probably a bit of brown color at the edges --- You need to start baking with high-heat to form the crusty outside. Turn the financier mold to make sure all the financiers are baked evenly. Reduce the heat to 350°F and bake again about 6 min, or bake until the financiers have light brown color. Turn off the oven and let the financiers rest in the oven for 5 min to make sure the inside is cooked just enough have the moist texture.
8. Remove the mold from the oven and unmold immediately to a cooling rack.
After about 10 min, enjoy your financier~
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