Raspberry Friands (Gluten free)

Friands! The 'friend' to those who are gluten intolerant. I had never made friands before now, but since my little sis had to start a Gluten free diet I decided to try and bake something tasty that she could eat. While this recipe is Gluten free, you can substitute plain flour for the gluten free flour if you are not making them for anyone who is gluten intolerant.  

These Raspberry Friands are very light and moist and make a great snack for morning or afternoon tea. To turn them into a delicious dessert, accompany them with Raspberry Coulis and Gluten Free Vanilla Bean Custard.

Gluten free Raspberry Friands with Raspberry coulis and Gluten free, vanilla bean custard

Raspberry Friands

Makes 12

8 egg whites
100g plain gluten-free flour
160g almond meal
1 cup pure icing sugar
200g unsalted butter ( melted and cooled)

200g frozen raspberries

Raspberry coulis

100g frozen raspberries

1tbs lemon juice

2tbs icing sugar

Gluten free vanilla bean custard

(this recipe makes way too much custard for the number of friands but it is a great way to use up the left over egg yolks)

8 egg yolks

80g castor sugar

¼ cup gluten free plain flour

600ml milk

1 tsp of vanilla bean paste (equivalent to one vanilla bean)

Lay frozen raspberries out on absorbent paper to thaw. Weigh out 100g to use for the raspberry coulis (if possible use the broken raspberries for this and keep the intact ones for the friands).

Melt the butter and use some to brush the friand tin thoroughly (if you don’t have a friand tin then a muffin tin will be fine). Place tin in the fridge to set the butter. Set the remaining butter to the side to cool.

 

Raspberry Coulis

 In a small saucepan, place 100g of raspberries, the lemon juice and 2tbs of icing sugar.     

 

  

Bring to a simmer over a low heat and cook until it has reduced by half.

Strain the coulis to remove seeds and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 170 fan-forced

Whisk egg whites using an electric mixer until soft peaks (make sure you don’t over whisk)

 

Combine the flour, icing sugar and almond meal and sift over the eggwhites.

Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the dry ingredients through the egg whites, using a cutting action, until just combined.  

 

Pour in the cooled (room temperature), melted butter and gently fold through until combined.

Set aside approximately 40 raspberries and add the rest to the mixture and fold through.

Divide your mixture into 12 prepared pans and top with around 3 or 4 raspberries.

Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden and the tops feel spongy to touch

Gluten free vanilla bean custard:

Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar

Whisk in the flour and a dash of the milk to achieve a runny consistency.

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla bean paste to a rolling boil.

Once boiling, pour the milk over the egg yolk mixture while whisking vigorously.

Pour the contents back into the saucepan and stir continuously with a spatula until it thickens.

Remove from heat immediately and pour into another bowl to stop the cooking . If not serving straight away cover with cling wrap so that it covers the surface.

 

Allow friands to stand in tin for 5 minutes, then remove by first running a knife around the edge of each friand.

 

Serve warm with custard and raspberry coulis.

My First Blog

Well this is my first ever blog post, so let’s see how we go. I was convinced by a friend that a blog is a great way to share the things that you love with the rest of the world. I am by no means a writer or a photographer but hopefully you will enjoy my recipes and the stories that come with them. 

I love cooking, especially desserts and sweet things and in 2011 I began my Certificate 3 in Patisserie at William Angliss Institute of TAFE. I love to cook for my friends and family and my favourite thing to hear is “Would you like to bring a dessert?” because I know that this gives me the opportunity to experiment and try something new or pull out an old favourite recipe.

My hero is Adriano Zumbo and I was lucky enough to meet him at a book signing in 2011.

Over the past year, I have made some things that I have been very proud of, but my greatest achievement was the Rainbow Macaron Tower that I made recently, for my sister’s 18^th Birthday. It contained 6 flavours of Macarons:

PINK: Strawberry with white chocolate and raspberry ganache

PURPLE: Boysenberry with white chocolate and blueberry ganache

BLUE: Plain shell with chocolate ganache

GREEN: Mint with choc mint ganache

YELLOW: Lemon with Lemon curd

ORANGE: Orange with jaffa ganache

In a future blog, I will share with you my macaron recipe. However, I thought for my first blog post I would include a recipe for something that is not too tricky to make and is a definite favourite with my family.

FRUIT TARTLETS

Makes 12

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry:

2 cups plain four

1 tablespoon castor sugar

100g unsalted butter (cold)

1 egg yolk

3-4 tablespoons ice water

Crème Pâtissière:

250g milk

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste(or one vanilla pod)

3 egg yolk

1/8 cup castor sugar

1 dessert spoon plain flour

1 dessert spoon corn flour

To finish off:

White chocolate melts

Mixed berries

Tortenguss or any clear flan gel

Pastry

Sift four and castor sugar intoa bowl.

Cut butter into small cubes andrub into flour, using fingertips, until it resembles fine bread crumbs.

Add egg yolk and 3 tablespoons of iced water and mix with a flat bladed spatula using a cutting action until the mixture comes together into small balls. If the mixture is not coming together, add another tablespoon of water. 

Use hands to bring dough together but do not knead. 

Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

While resting, make Crème Pâtissière.

Crème Pâtissière

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together egg yolks and castor sugar.

Mix in flours and a dash of the milk so that you have a smooth and runny consistency. 

In a small, heavy-based saucepanbring milk and vanilla bean paste to a boil.

While constantly whisking, pourhalf of the milk onto the egg yolk mixture and continue to mix until combined.

Pour the mixture back into thepot with the remaining milk and stir with a wooden spoon over a low heat untilit has thickened (this custard will thicken quite quickly).

When thickened, remove from heat and pour custard into a bowl.

Sprinkle custard with a little castor sugar and cover with cling wrap, so that it is touching the surface of the custard. This will prevent a skin forming.

Refrigerate until ready to use. 

Preheatoven to 180˚fan-forced

Remove pastry from refrigerator and roll out so that it is approximately 3mm thick.

Cut out circles (approximately 9cm diameter) and put into a greased muffin tray.

Place full tray in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Use a fork to prick holes in the base of each case prior to baking.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until cases are golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool on arack.

Melt white chocolate over a double boiler (a bowl over a pot of just boiled water) and brush each of the pastry cases with a thin layer.

Refrigerate until set.

Pipe Crème Pâtissière into eachof the cases and decorate with desired berries.

Prepare flan gel  

Add one packet of Tortenguss (flan gel powder), with 250ml of cold water and 1 dessert spoon of castor sugar.

Bring to a boil over a low heat while stirring constantly.

Take of heat and allow to sit for one minute before spooning over tartlets. 

Thank you to everyone who has read this first installment. Hopefully you have found this recipe helpful! I look forward to reading your comments, especially if you have tried this recipe!