Around My French Table (87 page)

When you're ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter 12 rectangular financier molds or 18 mini-muffin molds, dust with flour, and tap out the excess. Place the molds on a baking sheet. (If you don't have enough molds, bake the financiers in batches, cooling the tins between batches.)

Fill each mold almost to the top. Bake the financiers for about 13 minutes. The rectangular molds might take a little longer to bake and the mini muffins might take a little less time: the cakes should be golden, springy to the touch, and easy to pull away from the sides of the pan. Unmold the cakes as soon as you remove the pans from the oven—if necessary, run a blunt knife around the edges of the cakes to help ease them out of the pans. Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack and allow them to cool to room temperature.

MAKES 12 RECTANGULAR CAKES OR ABOUT 18 MINI-MUFFIN CAKES

SERVING
These are made for coffee or tea (especially tea) and are good with jam.

STORING
While you can keep the batter in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, once you've baked the financiers, you should serve them that day. However, financiers can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; allow them to thaw in the wrapper.

BONNE IDÉE
Fruit Financiers.
Adding a little fresh fruit to financiers is a nice touch. Fill the molds so that they're just a little shy of the rims, then put a little piece of fruit in the center of each mold—raspberries (this is my favorite add-in) or slivers of peaches, apricots, or plums.

ANOTHER BONNE IDÉE
Chocolate Financiers.
This recipe was given to me many years ago by Jean-Paul Hévin, one of Paris's most admired chocolatiers. The texture of these is more cake like, and they're very chocolatey. Melt 4½ tablespoons unsalted butter as directed, stopping when the butter is a light golden color. Bring ⅔ cup heavy cream to a full boil and pour it over 5 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate in a bowl. Stir just until you have a smooth, shiny ganache. In another bowl, whisk together ½ cup confectioners' sugar, sifted, ⅓ cup almond flour, 4½ tablespoons all-purpose flour, ⅛ teaspoon baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Whisk 3 egg whites together just until they're foamy, then pour them over the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, gently stir in the whites, followed by the melted butter. Add this mixture to the ganache and, using a light touch, blend. Spoon the batter into 15 buttered-and-floured financier molds or about 24 mini-muffin molds (if you don't have enough tins, bake the financiers in batches, cooling the tins between batches), filling the molds to about the three-quarter mark. Bake in the center of a 350-degree-F oven for 13 to 15 minutes (the mini muffins might need a little less time). The tops of the cakes should be dry, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Cool the cakes for 3 minutes before unmolding them.

F
RIANDS ARE VERY SIMILAR TO FINANCIERS,
but here, instead of the traditional ground nuts, these little cakes have unsweetened coconut. It was my good friend the pastry chef and cookbook author Nick Malgieri, a veteran of kitchens in the South of France, who told me to add coconut, and I'm grateful to him for the recipe. The coconut is a good change-up, creating a not-too-sweet little tea cake that is good with tea, also nice with espresso, and lovely served alongside fresh fruit.

If pastry isn't your strong suit, take heart—friands are simple. They're made by hand in minutes, require no techniques more complicated than stirring, and are baked in a mini-muffin tin, the kind you can pick up in the supermarket.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. If you've got two 12-cup mini-muffin tins, butter them both or fit them with paper liners; if you've only got one, butter or line it, and bake the friands in batches. (In the tins I use, each mold holds a scant 2½ tablespoons, and I can get 20 friands from the batter.)

Put the egg whites in a bowl and whisk them until they're smooth and a little foamy. One by one, whisk in the remaining ingredients gently, being particularly gentle with the flour and butter. You'll have a thick batter with a nice satiny shine.
(If it's more convenient, you can press a piece of plastic against the batter and refrigerate it for up to 3 days.)

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them almost to the top, and put the tins on a baking sheet.

Bake the friands for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the midway mark. When they are done, it will be easy to pull the little cakes away from the sides of the pan, and they'll be springy to the touch; poke a toothpick in the center of one of them, and it will come out clean. As soon as you remove the pans from the oven, unmold the friands. If they're a little reluctant to come out of the molds, just rap the edges of the muffin tins against the counter. Cool the cakes right side up on cooling racks.

MAKES ABOUT 20 TEA CAKES

SERVING
Best with coffee or tea, these are also good with a little jam.

STORING
Well covered, the batter can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can also hold the baked cakes for that long or even a little longer—they're remarkably keepable; store them in an airtight container at room temperature.

BONNE IDÉE
Fruited Friands.
Add a small bit of fruit to the friands right before you bake them. Place a fresh raspberry or slivers of soft fruits like peaches, plums, apricots, or figs in the center of each mold. Bits of candied orange zest or even stem ginger (ginger preserved in syrup) are also very good.

E
VERYTHING ABOUT THIS TART WAS CLASSIC
until I played around with it. The simple custard filling is a French standard, rather like a sweet quiche, and one that's used all the time with fruit. But I've also seen it paired with nuts, and it was a nut tart that I was preparing to make when I decided to take out a bit of the sugar and caramelize it. It changed the tart completely and, I think, quite wonderfully. If you love caramel, as I do, you'll love this new version; if you're not a fan, go to Bonne Idée, where you'll find the original. You can make this tart with chopped walnuts or pecans instead of almonds; just be sure to lightly toast them beforehand so that they keep their interesting texture during baking.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and put the tart shell on the baking sheet. Have a white saucer at hand.

To make the caramel, put ¼ cup of the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the water, and place the pan over medium-high heat. Allow the sugar to melt and come to a boil. If the sugar is coloring unevenly, swirl the mixture gently to even it out. Watching the pan like a hawk, let the sugar bubble until it turns a deep amber color—test the color by putting a drop of the caramel on the white saucer. The sugar will smoke, and that's disconcerting but fine. Turn the heat down and, being careful to stand away from the pan—this is an imperative—pour in the cream. The sugar, which is seriously hot, will sputter and bubble, and it may even seize, but as the cream heats, it will calm down and smooth out. Remove the pan from the heat.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until they are foamy, then beat in the remaining ½ cup sugar and the salt and whisk for 1 minute. Stir in the milk, followed by the caramel cream.

Scatter the nuts over the bottom of the tart shell, then pour in the custard. Carefully slide the baking sheet into the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Bake the tart for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the filling is uniformly puffed (make sure the center puffs) and feels firm at the center. Transfer the tart to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.

Remove the sides of the pan, slide the tart off the bottom of the pan (if you can't do this easily, don't bother with this step), and slice.

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

SERVING
Even though the tart has cream in it, it's awfully good with a little sweetened whipped cream or, better yet, a scoop of crème fraîche. The tart is best at room temperature, when the custard is most satiny, but it can be served chilled.

STORING
Best served the day it is made—when both the custard and the crust are at their finest and their two different textures are most apparent—the tart can be kept covered in the refrigerator overnight if necessary.

BONNE IDÉE
Almond Custard Tart.
Do not caramelize the sugar; instead, beat the eggs with the full ¾ cup sugar. If you like, add 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and ⅛ teaspoon pure almond extract to the custard. If you're making the tart in summer, think about serving it with fresh berries, lightly sweetened or not.

D
INNER CHEZ MY FRIENDS THE COLLETS
is always a treat. The food is always good, and the conversation is always wide-ranging, interesting, and nonstop, which explains why my husband and I never leave their place until way after midnight, even on school nights. On one such late night, Michael, Joshua (our son), and I were walking back to our apartment and hitting the highlights of the evening: all the stories and the tart, the tart, the tart.

The base is eight sheets of filo dough, each brushed with butter and sprinkled with sugar. Then there's a kind of almond cream, one that's quickly whisked together (although it should chill for at least 3 hours), and, finally, the fruit. Here it's made with apples, but it's also good with figs, pears, or plums. When you pull the tart out of the oven, it's gorgeous—the crust is crispy, the almond topping has puffed around the fruit, and the fruit has softened as it baked. I give the whole thing a quick brush with a little melted jelly, just to make it shine, and, like Martine, I always bring it to the table uncut. There's something so exciting about bringing something big to the table, and this tart is big. Because it's so thin and crackly, you get to eat it out of hand, a rare thing at the French dinner table and a surefire recipe for giggles and crumbs.

BE PREPARED:
The almond cream needs to be chilled for at least 3 hours.

TO MAKE THE ALMOND CREAM:
Whisk the almond flour and sugar together in a bowl.

In another bowl, beat the egg, vanilla, and salt together. Whisk in half of the almond flour mixture, and when it's well combined, whisk in the heavy cream. Finish by whisking in the remaining almond mixture. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the almond cream and chill it for at least 3 hours.
(The almond cream can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

When you're ready to construct and bake the tart, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

Place one piece of filo dough on the lined baking sheet (keep the remaining pieces of filo covered with plastic wrap), brush it with melted butter, and sprinkle it with sugar. Cover with another sheet of dough, then butter and sugar the sheet. Continue until you've stacked, buttered, and sugared all 8 sheets. Using a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon, very gently spread the almond cream over the top of the filo: you can leave a slim border of uncovered dough on all sides—it will curl in the oven and that's rather nice—or you can spread the almond topping all the way to the edges. Work slowly and be gentle, since filo is extremely delicate—if it tears (and it probably will), patch it with almond cream. Cover the tart lightly with plastic wrap while you cut the apples.