About this recipe

Friands are really easy to make and are a great way to use up egg whites. For those that don’t know, a friand is a type of French pastry which is typically made with almond meal. However in this recipe I’ve used macadamia nut meal for something different. I find that macadamia nuts offer a much more buttery and nutty texture to the friand compared to using almond meal.

Friands usually have some sort of flavour folded through them such as blueberries, figs, apricots, chocolate or citrus. In this recipe, I’ve added Australian ingredients such as riberries and lemon myrtle. The ideas for friends are endless.

I first developed this and a few other friand recipes for a morning tea at an Australian event I was hosting in Prague a few years back. The guests absolutely raved about them. The key to a good friand is a slightly crunchy or baked outside with a soft and moist centre.

Ingredients

8 egg whites
200g (¾  cup) melted unsalted butter
120g (1 cup) macadamia nut meal
75g (½ cup) flour
240g (1 ½ cups) icing sugar
1 teaspoon lemon myrtle
2 tablespoons of riberry confit
1 tablespoon desiccated coconut

Cooking instruction

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Grease and flour the friand tin to prevent the friands from sticking.
In a mixing bowl slightly whisk the egg whites so they are combined. Then add the macadamia nut meal, flour and icing sugar. Add melted butter. Mix well.

Add the riberry confit (including some of the riberry syrup), desiccated coconut and lemon myrtle. Then, place the batter into the friand tin till they are ¾ full. Allow to sit in the pan for 5 minutes before baking.

Bake for about 25 minutes till golden. The friands should spring back when touched.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn friands out onto a wire rack to cool.
Dust friands with icing sugar to serve.