I feel bad posting these nectarine and almond friands as we have a dairy intolerant houseguest at the moment and she is really struggling to have the willpower to resist.
These friands are so light and buttery and looked amazing as I was flicking through an old issue of Waitrose Weekend before relegating it to the recycling bin. The original recipe used plums but any stone fruit would work well.
Nectarine & Almond Friands
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
50g plain flour
115g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
75g ground almonds
4 medium free range egg whites
½ tsp almond extract
2 nectarines, stoned and cut into 6 thick wedges each
Preheat the oven to 200°C or gas mark 6. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin with a little butter, then line the bases with circles of baking parchment. Melt the butter.
Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in the ground almonds.
Put the egg whites in a separate, thoroughly clean bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Stir the almond extract and melted butter into the flour mixture. Mix to combine. Using a large metal spoon, fold a quarter of the egg whites into the butter mixture to lighten it, then fold in the remainder until just combined. Divide among the holes in the tin.
Arrange the nectarines on top and bake for 15-18 minutes, until just firm and golden around the edges. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then loosen the edges with a knife and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve lightly dusted with icing sugar.
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I think I’ll use my apricots to make these…:)
As always an excellent suggestion!