Midweek Meals: Rediscover these lesser-spotted sweet treats

What exactly is a peanut-butter financier? Just how does one 'charlotte' a peach? Find out with these recipes from the Examiner archive — and follow them up with a poitín sour

Get into making these lesser-spotted sweeties

Peanut butter financiers

recipe by:Recipe by Gráinne Mullins, Grá Chocolates

Financiers are a classic bite-sized browned butter almond tea cake that you often find in French patisseries, but they are made with just a few simple ingredients.

Servings

24

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 18 mins

Total Time

 38 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 190g ground almonds

• 300g butter

• 375g caster sugar

• 150g plain flour

• 250g egg whites (approx. 7 eggs)

• 250g peanut butter

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan) for 20 minutes.

2. Spread the ground almonds evenly on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated for about 7 minutes, until pale golden brown. Allow to cool completely.

3. To make your brown butter (beurre noisette), melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Continue cooking, stirring constantly and watching carefully to prevent burning, until the milk solids turn deep brown. Immediately pour the butter into a heatproof bowl. Set aside to cool slightly or reheat the beurre noisette when you’re ready to add it to the batter.

4. Sift the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar and toasted ground almonds.

5.  Beat the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment just until foamy. Add the sugar and flour mixture and beat on a low speed until incorporated. Drizzle in the warm beurre noisette on a medium-low speed for 5 minutes, until it becomes a smooth, golden cream. Add the peanut butter and mix for a few seconds, just until evenly incorporated.

6.  Fill individual silicone moulds about two-thirds full of the batter (if you don’t have silicone financier moulds, you can use a silicone or a greased regular bun tin instead). Bake in the preheated oven for 15–18 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Mandarines Givrees

recipe by:JR Ryall

These quaint little desserts consist of tangerine sorbet served inside a frozen tangerine skin.

Servings

20

Preparation Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• For the syrup

• 170 g/6 oz caster sugar

• juice of 1⁄2 lemon

• For the sorbet

• 24 tangerines with leaves, or more as needed

• juice of 1 lemon

• bay leaves, to decorate

Method

1. To make the syrup: Place 120 ml/4 fl oz (1⁄2 cup) water, the sugar and lemon juice in a pan on a low heat. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and allow to completely cool.

2. To make the sorbet: Grate the zest from four of the tangerines and squeeze their juice. Use a sharp knife to cut the ‘top’ off the remaining tangerines so each one has a ‘lid’. Try to keep the leaves and stems attached to each lid. Put the lids to one side for later.

3. Use a teaspoon to remove the flesh (all the segments) from inside each tangerine, being careful to keep the skin intact. This can be tricky, as some fruit will have looser skins than others. I find the best way to do this is by gently pushing the spoon between the segments and the thin outer pith, gradually taking out a few segments at a time. Once one or two segments are removed, the rest come out more easily. Put the hollow skins, each of which should now be clean on the inside, onto a tray and into the freezer.

4. Purée the scooped-out flesh using a handheld blender. Press the blended pulp through a fine sieve to extract as much of the juice as possible. Add the juice from the four tangerines you squeezed earlier too. In total you should end up with about 750 ml/25 fl oz (3 cups) juice. Otherwise, squeeze a few extra tangerines to bring up the volume. Add the grated zest, the fresh lemon juice and the cooled syrup to the tangerine juice. Taste and adjust with sugar or extra lemon juice, if more sweetness or sharpness is required.

5. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to the manufacturer’s directions. Transfer the sorbet into the frozen tangerine shells, replace the lids and store in an airtight container in the freezer. This sorbet is best enjoyed the day it is made.

6. Serve the mandarines givrée in an ice bowl or on a bed of bay leaves. If the fruit did not come with leaves attached, be extra generous with the bay leaves to compensate.