Financiers Recipe
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Created in the late 1800s by a bakery near the Paris Bourse, the city’s financial hub, financiers were named and made for the wealthy bankers who frequented the shop. The cakes were rich with brown butter, shaped into a gold bar, and made small and crumbless for portability—perfect for a busy banker. Financiers are similar to madeleines but much more forgiving and versatile. They can be baked in mini-muffin tins. Once you learn this basic financier, play around with flavor combinations.
This pastry was featured as part of our Parisian Sweets photo gallery.
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup blanched sliced almonds
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), plus more for coating the pan
- 1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise, seeds scraped out, seeds and pod reserved
- 6 large egg whites
INSTRUCTIONS
- Sift flour and salt together through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl; set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment, process the almonds until finely ground, about 1 minute. Add sugar and pulse until well combined, about 10 (1-second) pulses. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.
- Melt butter in a medium frying pan over medium-low heat, swirling the pan occasionally until butter turns amber in color and smells nutty, about 15 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium heatproof bowl, add vanilla seeds and pod, and stir to break up any clumps of vanilla seeds.
- Place egg whites in a medium bowl and whisk until frothy, about 30 seconds. Stir egg whites into reserved almond mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in reserved flour mixture until just combined (do not overmix).
- Remove vanilla pod from butter and discard. Gently stir butter into flour mixture, a little at a time, until butter is absorbed and just evenly combined (do not overmix). Cover batter with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, heat the oven to 450°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Generously coat a 24-well mini-muffin pan with butter and place on a baking sheet.
- Fill each muffin well completely with batter and bake for 6 minutes. Reduce heat to 400°F and bake financiers until just beginning to brown around the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes more. Immediately unmold financiers and cool completely on a wire rack.
I made them a few days ago. The sides got browned while the rest of the cake stayed pale. The next time I will not use a baking sheet under the muffin tin as the muffin tin I have is not a dark one (I do need a baking sheet under my dark Maddleine pan but not under my light one, for even baking).
Strange - in step 4 you FOLD the flour into the mixture (presumably to lightly combine the two), then in step 5 you STIR the butter into the mixture (defeating the purpose of the step 4 folding).
I would be tempted to take a bit of the mixture after the step 4 folding and stir it thoroughly into the butter, then fold the butter combination into the egg combination.
That's the Paris Bourse, which is their equivalent of the stock exchange. At Laduree, which makes the best financiers in Paris, the financiers are still shaped like little gold bars. Finally, they are less like madeleines and more like almond macaroons, except for the shape. And this is the only time I've ever seen a recipe that treats them like muffins or cupcakes!
I made these last night. They were gone in less than 20 minutes. Very moist and seriously scrumptious. Next time I'll triple the recipe, since they're bite sized and move quickly!