Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Markets, mist and mountains and of course some baking


These last few months had been hectic and the reason again was the Christmas market that I organized with the help of a few wonderful friends and family membersYou can see some pictures here on the ever amazing Lauren's blog.



I love the creative process of putting it all together, meeting all the amazing crafters and purveyors and seeing all the happy faces of customers.  But it does take its toll on family life and normal day to day living.  

So now, life is back to normal and the phone is not constantly glued to my ear as it had been for who knows how long.  I can think and breath and be a mom and wife and accountant again.  And of course the time spent in the kitchen increases too. We get to sneak away on weekends to the mountains too and have spend a lovely, misty afternoon in one of our favourite spots looking for flowers this past weekend.

Enough with the excuses and babbling and back to the real reason for my reappearance around the blogosphere - apricots and financiers.  I don't get cravings for anything sweet very often, but maybe because of the energy draining activities of the last while or maybe because of the beautiful rays of sunshine that broke through the clouds of the last few days, today I craved something sweet.  And something with apricots, just because I happen to have had a punnet of the sweetest apricots right there on the counter.  And these fit the bill exactly.  They are not sweet, but not sour either and the contrast of crumbly almonds and feather light egg white batter with the sour-sweet fruitiness of the apricots are just divine.  

None left, not one.


Apricot, almond and brown butter financiers (makes 12)

115g butter
100g icing sugar
60g ground almonds
30g corn flour
pinch of salt
4 egg whites
apricots, thinly sliced

Heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a muffin thin.
In a small saucepan over a medium heat, melt the butter until a rich brown colour.  Remove from the heat and let cool a little.

Combine the dry ingredients and briefly mix in a mixer with a paddle attachment.  Add the butter and mix until just combined.  Add the egg whites and mix until smooth.  Pour the mixture into the moulds and bake for 15 minutes.  Let cool on a wire rack.



 


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