Monday, January 21, 2008

Blueberry Friand Recipe



These soft, moist almond-flavoured cakes are topped with blueberries, but any type of berry could be used. We like to serve friands warm or at room temperature, on their own or with cream or ice cream.

Preparation time: about 20 minutes (excludes baking time)

Makes 6 friands.

We use a 250ml measuring cup for all of our recipes.

100g butter
4 large egg whites (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
45g (1/4 cup plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) plain flour
140g (1 cup) pure icing sugar
85g (2/3 cup, lightly pressed into the cup with the back of a spoon) almond meal
About 40g (about 30 large) blueberries
Extra icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (170 degrees Celsius fan-forced). If you are not using a fan-forced oven, adjust the oven rack to the middle position so the friands brown evenly.

Grease a six hole (1/3 cup capacity holes) non-stick oval friand pan, or six individual 1/3 cup capacity friand pans. If you don't have a friand pan, you could use a muffin pan with 1/3 cup capacity holes.

Melt butter and set aside to cool to lukewarm.

In a medium bowl, beat egg whites with a fork or whisk until foamy (about 30 seconds). © exclusivelyfood.com.au

Sift flour, icing sugar and almond meal into the bowl with the egg whites.

Stir ingredients together until just combined.

Add the melted butter to the bowl and stir until just combined.

Divide mixture evenly among the holes of the prepared pan. Place about five blueberries in a cluster in the centre of each friand.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the friands are a light golden colour and spring back when lightly pressed. A thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of a friand should come out without any raw-looking batter attached.

Remove friands from the oven and allow to stand in the pan for five minutes.

Run a knife around the outside of each friand to loosen before turning them out. Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar, or place on a wire rack to cool.

Store cooled friands in an airtight container at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator. To freeze, individually wrap cooled friands in plastic wrap and place in an airtight container in the freezer.

To serve, bring to room temperature or warm in the microwave, and then dust liberally with icing sugar.
© www.exclusivelyfood.com.au

47 comments:

  1. Thanks for this lovely recipe. Will it be okay if I use canned blueberries or cherries instead of fresh ones?

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  2. I made these friands this morning and they were fantastic! So easy and delicious. I substituted frozen raspberries for the blueberries as they were all I had and it worked a treat! Love the recipes on this site, well done!

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  3. Lovely pics. Beautiful presentation.

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  4. Hi Joanne,

    Well-drained canned berries or cherries should be fine to use in this recipe.

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  5. made these last night. As always, your recipes are SO easy to follow and ALWAYS come out perfect.

    Thank you!!

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  6. I simply love this recipe. After discovering this gorgeous website last week I've already made these friands twice for friends.

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  7. heys~~ i love ur site =] it has the bestest recipes and the pictures look soooo nice i wish i could make them all >_<
    nyways.. i was wondering if i could use anything other than almond meal cuz my lil brother is allergic to nuts and yea...

    love ur cookie recipes ^_^

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  8. Unfortunately, we are not aware of any suitable substitute for the almond meal in this recipe. Maybe you could try making our blueberry muffins instead.

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  9. i made these this morning but they were a bit heavy and dense..how do i get them light and fluffy?

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  10. Hi Chrissie,

    This friand recipe does produce a fairly dense cake. Are you looking for more of a cupcake texture?

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  11. Hi Amanda & Debbie
    I have just found your site & it is fantastic with such clear instructions and the pictures. I was just wondering what flour I could use to make these gluten free?
    Thanks
    Phillipa

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  12. Hi Phillipa,

    We suggest that you try using packaged gluten-free plain flour, which is available from supermarkets and health food stores.

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  13. Hi!
    This looks lovely--but, I'd like to make a plain (berry-free) version. Would these friands still be as moist without the berries? I was thinking that the juice from the berries likely contributes to the moistness, but I'm not sure.

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  14. Hi Hana

    The friands should still be moist if the berries are omitted. A small amount of berry juice does absorb into part of the friand (see the photo of the cut friand) but the part that doesn't contain any berry juice is quite moist.

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  15. My 10 year old daughter wanted to make friands and found this recipe. Like Amy, we used frozen raspberries. Just brilliant, and so quick and easy. Will be making these again soon!

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  16. Great photos and presentation.Neat,simple yet very attractive.

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  17. Nice recipe, especially for entertaining. I used canned blueberries,although im sure the taste would have improved if they were fresh. Its not quite the same !

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  18. Can I mix the icing sugar, almond meal and flour without a sift?

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  19. Hi Valerie

    You could stir the flour, icing sugar and almond meal together, and press out any lumps with the back of the spoon.

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  20. Thanks! I made the friands today. They were lovely.

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  21. Hi Amanda & Debbie,

    Thanks for a well-written, simple yet beautiful recipe. Just wondering if I can freeze them?

    Reggie

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  22. Hi Reggie

    Yes, these friands are suitable to freeze.

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  23. Just to say that you could easily substitute any nut meal for almonds for the query about allergy. try hazelnuts or pistachio meal. Even better with zest of a lemon added too.

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  24. Oh my god.

    I just made these (I had to use frozen mixed berries instead of fresh blueberries) and I swear they are THE nicest cakes I have ever made.

    I wish I could eat them every day!

    :-)

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  25. Hi, I love your recipes and am about to try this one. Just wondering, do you think that they will work using a mini-friand pan?

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  26. Hi Nyanda

    Yes, this recipe could be used to make mini friands. You will need to use a shorter baking time than specified.

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  27. Thanks for that clarification - I made the mini-friands this morning and they are AMAZING!
    All set to be the feature morsel for my daughter's first birthday party! Thanks for another wonderful recipe!

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  28. Would this recipe work if I substituted the plain flour with corn flour for a gluten free version?

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  29. We have only tested this recipe with plain flour, so we aren't sure whether you could replace it with cornflour and still get a good result. To make the friands gluten free, we would try using gluten free plain flour.

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  30. Substituting with corn flour worked out well. I was a bit worried because I don’t like to waste ingredients but they turned out great! I added a touch more coz I figured corn flour is lighter it might require a bit more. Thanks for a great recipe!

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  31. Perhaps for a Gluten Free variation the plain flour could be substituted with coconut flour, works well in other cakes I have tried.

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  32. These were absolutely delicious. I also substituted the blueberries for frozen raspberries and they were worked really well. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes, they are consistently good & easy to follow :)

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  33. This is the best recipe ever! And quite foolproof... I often reduce the sugar and butter and it's still good.

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  34. Loved this recipe!! I made it in mini muffin pans putting just one berry in each. Cooked for about 15 minutes and they were just perfect and loved by all.

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  35. this looks like a pretty good recipe for diabetics (with the exception of the cup of icing sugar.) when sugar is called for in recipes I substitute with 50gms splenda and stevia liquid otherwise its very good with the almond meal and the high antioxidant berries v

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  36. As with all the recipes i have tried on this site... turned out perfect! Thankyou for taking the guess work out of it!

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  37. Lots of people have been asking about how to make these gluten-free. I just substitute extra almond meal for the flour... it works for me!

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  38. Delicious! I ran out of plain flour and used self raising flour instead. Turned out just as well!

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  39. Thanks guys for this recipe. It turned out brilliantly; just fantastic! I didn't have blueberries but had frozen raspberries, cherries and blackberries and they all worked well!

    It was a big hit with my housemates and I highly recommend this simple recipe to anyone!

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  40. Thankyou so much for this recipe Amanda and Debbie.
    I made friands about 6 yrs ago and they turned out just awful. After reading everyone's comments on this recipe I thought I would give it a go. So glad I did!!!
    These are the best friands, much better than bought ones at cafes.

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  41. Best friands ever! I decided to make a gluten free option for my mum and substituted the flour for gluten free flour. They were delicious! Thank you!

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  42. I have run out of icing sugar - would regular sugar be an ok substitute?

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  43. Amanda & Debbie,

    Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I've tried a lot of different friand recipes and this is the best one I've ever made. After sharing them around with friends and family the responses were all "these are the best friands I've ever had". I have to admit they are truly delicious and have kept very well in the freezer. Next time I make them I'm going to use raspberries!

    Thanks again.

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  44. Lovely recipe. I've never used gluten free flour before but I substituted it in in this recipe and they worked perfectly. I also used raspberries instead and they were delicious! Thanks :-)

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  45. Well it turns out I can cook friands! Lovely recipe, and my 2 little girls (6 and 2) had great fun helping make them.

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  46. I love Friands and this is the best recipe I've come across. I've made it many times. Totally addictive!
    You girls are just the best.

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  47. Absolutely Fabulous. I love friends and these are the best I've come across. So many recipes have failed but everything in your website is meticulous and turns out! Thank you so much!! Have made these many times and it's a hit!

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