Strawberry Friands

So to think this whole food blogging affair was only meant to be a hobby; something on the side, distant and not at all to interfere with my normal life. Well I not only have become a fully-operating food blogger but it has also infiltrated my waking and sleeping life. It’s a peculiar thing blogging, like a fungus it seeps in unknowingly and then all of a sudden you are overcome in its clutches and it begins to overtake the mundane routine of your life.

Not that I don't enjoy it, because I find documenting my gastronomic triumphs and disasters quite a delight. Also I find it forces me to do the best I can at making a recipe work. I have only been tending to this blog for less than a mere two months and I have already developed strong behavioural oddities that I can only attribute to this very thing. Here are my symptoms:

1. My tiny bedroom (which receives the most sunlight) has now become a makeshift photography studio.
This is not good when you are walking through your bedroom in the dark and you end up stubbing your toe on the tripod positioned in the middle of the room.
2. My dining selections are judged not only on the quality of food at a certain eatery, but also on how well the place is lit. If no beautiful photo essay can ensue from a restaurant, then I will be rather tentative to include it in the blog.
3. All potential handbag purchases must pass the “dimensions test”, namely "Will my not-so-tiny digital SLR fit in this bag?" and if the answer is “Yes”, then it’s hired!
4. No one touches their food unless I have taken a photograph of it, lest they want to encounter my wrath.
This is probably my most neurotic food blogging trait, and I am embarrassed even to admit.
5. Whenever I bake/cook for blogging purposes I only do so during the well lit hours of the day, if there is any cooking done at night a portion of the food must be saved in order for photos to be taken the following day when there is adequate light.
This is probably my second most anal blogging eccentricity that I am mortified to even be typing this right now.
6. I am now beginning to scour textile and stationery stores for good backgrounds for photos.
So far I have only two backgrounds that you will notice are interchanged every other post.
7. My dreams are beginning to be about food and blogging. Or should they be called nightmares, I don’t know?
8. And lastly, I now make plate purchases on the merits of how well the pieces photograph.

So here to celebrate the little idiosyncrasies brought about by food blogging is a recipe for Strawberry Friands. Also known as Financiers, these little cakes are ubiquitous in the Sydney cafe scene. They are spongy and moist and can be flavoured with almost any type of fruit or nut. Here is the recipe.

Strawberry Friands
(makes 6 friands)

2/3 cup unsalted butter or ghee (clarified butter)
½ cup all purpose flour
1 cup almond meal or almond flour
1½ cups icing (confectioners or powdered) sugar
¼ tsp salt
6 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp grated lemon zest
1 punnet strawberries, chopped into pieces. Slice some lengthways and reserve to decorate the tops later.

Place butter or ghee in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat until browned, be careful not to burn the butter. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 200°C.
In a bowl, combine flour, almond meal, icing sugar and salt.
Fold in the lightly beaten egg whites and then add the lemon zest, vanilla and browned butter. Mix until incorporated.
Then add the chopped strawberries, leaving those that are sliced lengthways for later. Mix until blended thoroughly.
Fill friand trays or moulds just almost to the top and lightly knock the tray or mould down onto the bench to release any trapped air bubbles.
Bake the friands for approximately 4 minutes. Then remove from oven and top each one with some sliced strawberries.
Return to oven and bake for a further 5-7 minutes or until the cake springs back when pressed.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

NOTE: The browned butter or ‘beurre noisette’ adds a hint of nuttiness to the friands. Also if almond meal or flour is unavailable you can make your own by processing blanched almonds until finely ground.
You can add any type of berry or fresh fruit to the friands, just follow the basic recipe and improvise your fruits!