Brown Butter Financiers With Blackberries

If there's one season whose imagery speaks to me, it is that of Autumn. Think chunky sweaters, long walks on crunchy fallen leaves, that nip in the air, mugs of steaming hot chocolate, sitting curled up with a good book and a cosy blanket and loads and loads of baking! And all this is great and you can nod along with me in total agreement except for the small, tiny detail that we have no autumn in India! Yes, the hill states in the North might experience it but in my little corner of the world, all we get is a month of pleasant weather that we euphemistically call Winter. So, when November unexpectedly bought a nip in the morning air, much earlier than anticipated, I was all ready to play make-believe. All while conveniently ignoring that hazy smog that's quietly taking over our skylines!

My social media feed is full of baking recipes with apples and blackberries. And pumpkin too, but after all these years of blogging, I still haven't accepted the idea of pumpkin in my desserts. And apples have made an appearance quite a few times on this blog so blackberries it was to be with the help of some readymade blackberry preserve. 

Ever since I decided to revive my blog, I have been on the lookout for recipes that challenge and expand my existing baking repertoire. I think it was lack of challenge that caused me to stagnate and even kill the joy that I once experienced when I first experimented with baking. Over the past few months of lockdown, I have been particularly enamoured by the idea of working on learning French pastry and baking more keenly. Think puff pastry, financiers, madeleines, eclairs, caneles, croissants, baguettes...you get the picture. 

It all sounds so ambitious, so we begin small with financiers. Financiers are these small French tea cakes that taste of brown butter and almonds. They are usually baked in a rectangle moulds and the story goes that they were first made in a pastry shop near the Paris stock exchange. They were baked in rectangle moulds to resemble bars of gold because well, you know those greedy bankers and their love for all things over-the-top! 

They turned out quite easy to bake. I have written as detailed a recipe as I could and I urge you to read it once fully before you attempt to bake them. I've realised its the attention to small details and steps during the process that have a huge impact on the final result. Instead of my usual recipes measured in cups and spoons, I've given this one in gms because I believe the recipe demanded that level of exactness to guarantee the result I wanted.

What you get are these domed, springy to touch tea cakes that have a firm, brown- around-the-edges top that gives way to reveal a moist, tender, nutty crumb. I've used a blackberry preserve but use whatever catches your fancy, as long as it has a bit of a twang to cut through all the sweetness. And if you get your hands on some fresh blackberries or even raspberries, even better.

Warm out of the oven, I did find these financiers a tad too sweet for my palate. But, and here's my contrary opinion, let these financiers rest a bit, (don't crucify me for suggesting this) maybe even till the next day and they tasted not only less sweeter but the nuttiness was also more pronounced. These are rich ingredients and that's why the blackberry preserve helps to cut through the richness and infuse some fruity freshness. It also means that one tea cake is more than enough to go along with a cup of tea. 

Before, I sign off, I'd like to draw your attention to an e-cookbook, 'At Home : Favourite recipes from our kitchens'.  Chefs, writers, home cooks and bloggers from across the country have shared about fifty recipes from their kitchens. All proceeds (you can pay anything upwards of Rs.300) from this cookbook will go towards the work of the Nabhangan Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that works with rural communities in Marathawada. (www.nabhanganfoundation.org)

They are looking to raise Rs. 3 lakhs which will be used to fund a new school building. At the time of writing this post, they had already collected Rs. 77 thousand that has been used for electrical fittings of the school building in Pandhari, Maharashtra. It is a beautiful, diverse curation of recipes with some stunning photography. Please do have a look to see whether you'd like to contribute towards this cause. 

Many congratulations Richa and Kasturika for such a commendable effort on this beauty of a cookbook! (www.athomecookbook.com)

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Brown Butter Financiers With Blackberries

Makes 6-8, depending on the size of your moulds. 

Ingredients: *All ingredients at room temperature

• 100 gms unsalted butter
• 50 gms almond meal
• 46 gms all-purpose flour/maida
• 90 gms icing sugar
• 121 gms egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-3 tablespoons of blackberry preserve or any jam/preserve of your choice. (I used Bhuira's blackberry preserve) You can also use fresh blackberries/raspberries if you have access to them. 

Directions:

• Pre-heat the oven to 170 deg C. Mix some softened butter and flour (this is separate from the ingredients list) and use this mixture to grease your muffin moulds.Don't forget to grease the rims of the moulds too. This is a better method to help ease the financiers out of their moulds after they are baked.
• Put the butter into a saucepan and let it gently melt. Swirl the pan from time to time to allow it to melt evenly. After a few minutes, as the butter melts, it begins to foam and milk solids will separate at the bottom of the pan. When those milk solids turn a toasty brown and the mixture smells nutty (keep a close watch, the milk solids turns nutty brown in a matter of seconds), remove the pan from the heat and strain the butter through a sieve  into a bowl, to separate out the milk solids. What you will be left in the bowl is the brown butter that will be used in the recipe. Put it aside to cool down to room temperature.
• Sieve all the dry ingredients - almond meal, flour and icing sugar into a bowl and give them a whisk by hand.
• In another clean, large bowl, whisk the egg whites to medium peaks. You are not looking for stiff peaks.
• Once, the egg whites have been whisked, gently fold through the flour mixture into the egg whites with a help of a spatula. Do not dump all the flour mixture in one go. Rather, add in batches, of a few spoons, whilst folding it through.
• Once, the flour mixture has been incorporated, add the brown butter to the mixture by way of a slow drizzle while continuing to fold the mixture through. At this stage, add the vanilla extract and fold until it is well mixed. 
• Fill your muffin moulds upto 3/4 of the way with the batter. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon of blackberry preserve on to each financier and put them to bake. 
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until the top of your financiers have domed, are crisp and golden-brown around the edges and are springy to touch. (Timings can vary depending on your oven) Bake in the middle rack with both rods of your oven on.
• Once the financiers are baked, let them cool in the moulds for 10 minutes before removing them. They could get stuck to the rim of your moulds, so gently run a knife around the edges of each financier to help them ease out. Do this gently as financiers are quite delicate. 
• Serve them warm although I preferred them the next day. You can store them in an air tight container in the fridge for upto 3-4 days.