blueberry buckwheat friands
browned butter, buckwheat, and blueberries
not to toot my own horn, but these are honestly my favourite thing I’ve made recently and you need to make them as soon as you can
the outside is crisp, the middle is buttery like the inside of an almond croissant, and they will give your home the most incredible smell
they’re coincidentally gluten free from the buckwheat flour, but you could substitute for plain flour, or branch out with rye, einkorn, khorasan or other funky low-protein flours.
yields nine small friands
ingredients
60g butter
50g almond flour
72g caster sugar
23g buckwheat flour (or sub for plain flour)
2 egg whites, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla paste
0.25 tsp almond extract
pinch salt
9 whole blueberries
method
add the butter (60g) to a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, swirling occasionally until the butter has browned (the butter stops bubbling, goes quiet and smells of hazelnuts)
remove from the heat and set aside to cool
note: if using a heavy saucepan that retains heat well, recommend transferring the browned butter into a cool bowl to stop the cooking. otherwise the butter may keep cooking off the heat and burn, and you will have to start over!
in a medium bowl mix together the almond flour (50g), caster sugar (72g), and buckwheat flour (23g)
add the egg whites (2), vanilla paste (1 tsp), and almond extract (0.25 tsp) and stir to combine
stream in the cooled browned butter and stir to combine
lightly oil a muffin tin (or friand tin, financier tin, whatever you have)
fill each cup to about half full (this made nine in my tiny muffin tin, your yield will vary based on your tin)
press a blueberry into the top of each friand
preheat the oven to 190°C
note: the batter is happy to sit while the oven preheats. you could also make the batter in advance, pop in the fridge, and bake as required
bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges are golden brown
let rest for 2-3 minutes in the tin, then pop out and let cool on a wire rack
best eaten warm, or within eight hours of baking (these don’t keep very well)
