Midweek Meals: Rediscover these lesser-spotted sweet treats
Get into making these lesser-spotted sweeties
Peanut butter financiers
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
24Preparation Time
20 minsCooking Time
18 minsTotal Time
38 minsCourse
BakingIngredients
190g ground almonds
300g butter
375g caster sugar
150g plain flour
250g egg whites (approx. 7 eggs)
250g peanut butter
Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan) for 20 minutes.
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.
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.
Sift the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar and toasted ground almonds.
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.
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
These quaint little desserts consist of tangerine sorbet served inside a frozen tangerine skin.
Servings
20Preparation Time
40 minsTotal Time
40 minsCourse
DessertIngredients
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Peach Charlotte
A great way to use up leftovers.
Servings
4Preparation Time
15 minsCooking Time
25 minsTotal Time
40 minsCourse
BakingIngredients
6 thick slices of leftover bread
25g soft butter
½ tbsp lght muscovado sugar
the zest of an orange
500g of peaches, destoned and sliced
1 tbsp of honey
4 green cardamon pods, lightly crushed
Method
Preheat your oven to 200°C and butter an ovenproof dish, that is about 1 litre in volume.
Butter the bread and cut each slice into four triangles. Sprinkle with the sugar and orange zest and set aside.
Blitz a quarter of the peaches with the honey. Toss the remaining peaches in the puree with the cardamon pods and tip everything into your prepared dish.
Place the triangles of bread on top, overlapping them slightly so they cover the fruit beneath.
Place a lid on your dish or alternatively cover it in foil. Bake for 15 minutes then remove the foil and bake for a further ten minutes until the peaches are soft and the top is golden.
Elderflower cake
Perfect for an afternoon treat with a cup of tea or a gin and tonic.
Servings
8Preparation Time
30 minsCooking Time
60 minsTotal Time
1 hours 30 minsCourse
BakingIngredients
For the cake:
50g soft butter
290g golden caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
225g natural yogurt
the zest of 3 lemons
1 tbs elderflower cordial
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder, sieved
For the icing:
85g icing sugar, sieved
1 tbs elderflower cordial
about ½ tbs water
Method
Pre heat your oven to 180°C and line an 8-inch round tin with baking parchment
Beat the sugar, butter and egg yolks in a bowl. Add the yoghurt, the zest and elderflower cordial. Beat until smooth. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder.
Whisk the egg whites to a soft peak and carefully fold into the mixture.
Scoop the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake for about an hour or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin.
To make the icing: Stir the icing sugar and elderflower cordial together and add enough water to make it smooth and slightly runny. Drizzle the icing over cold cake and allow to set.
Poitín Sour
Poitín was arguably our national drink before it was Whiskey. Most good Poitín these days is not unlike new-make whiskey so it makes sense to substitute it for whiskey in some classic cocktails such as an Old Fashioned or the venerable Whiskey Sour.
Servings
2Preparation Time
5 minsTotal Time
5 minsCourse
SideIngredients
100ml Poitín
50ml Lemon juice (1 lemon approx)
50ml Sugar Syrup
1 Egg White
Dash of Beara or Angostura Bitters
Method
Shake all the ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker, strain into an old-fashioned glass (or a coupe if you are feeling fancy).
Add a dash of bitters and finally spritz some lemon zest onto each glass for extra scent.
