Chocolate Financiers
By Sasha MarxPublished on December 18, 2016
Yield
16 to 19 small financiers or 12 large financiers
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Use a finely ground almond flour made from blanched almonds, like Bob’s Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour. This recipe will work with a true Dutch-processed cocoa powder like Droste or a blended cocoa powder like Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa. A pastry bag makes portioning this batter into the muffin tin a cinch. If you don’t have one, place plastic wrap directly onto surface of batter in bowl to prevent a skin from forming. We love using a mini muffin tin for these as the financiers look really nice and have a perfect ratio of crisp exterior to soft interior, but they can also be made in a standard muffin tin.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees F/191 degrees C. Whisk together sugar, all-purpose flour, espresso powder, and salt in heatproof large bowl. Sift almond flour through fine-mesh strainer into bowl; discard any coarse bits in strainer. Sift cocoa powder into bowl. Whisk to combine. Form well in center of sugar mixture. Pour egg whites into center of well, then whisk, gradually incorporating sugar mixture, until well combined and glossy, scraping down bowl as needed, about 1 minute. Set aside.
- Bring butter and chocolate to simmer in small saucepan over medium-high heat, about 2 minutes. Working quickly, whisk hot butter-chocolate mixture into bowl with batter until smooth and well incorporated, about 30 seconds. Transfer batter to pastry bag and set aside at room temperature for at least 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes.
- Spray muffin tin with vegetable oil spray. Pipe or scoop 1½ tablespoons batter into each cup. (If you are using a mini muffin tin, the batter should stop ⅛ inch below rim. If you are using a regular muffin tin, the batter should stop ½ inch below rim.) Bake financiers until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 13 to 15 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Let financiers cool in tin for 5 minutes. Unmold financiers and transfer to wire rack. Serve.
Yield
16 to 19 small financiers or 12 large financiersIngredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
Financiers are a French petit-four cake (petit-four literally translates to “small oven” and refers to bite-sized baked items which can be sweet or savory), traditionally made with brown butter and almond flour. They have awesome contrasting textures—crisp and chewy at the edges, and decadently soft and moist at the center—along with nutty flavor from the browned butter and almonds. Adding chocolate to the mix makes for a next-level brownie that we can’t get enough of. This version is an adaptation of a Thomas Keller recipe that calls for both bittersweet chocolate (70 percent cacao) and unsweetened chocolate (100 percent cacao) along with cocoa powder.
We wanted intense chocolate flavor so we ditched the bittersweet chocolate and went up on the unsweetened. We also added a little instant espresso powder, which amplifies chocolate flavor. These tweaks muted the flavor of the brown butter and we were unable to distinguish between versions made with plain melted butter and brown butter in side-by-side tests. So, we ditched the browning step and made an already simple, elegant dessert even easier.
Once you’ve made these financiers, use them in a little experiment to experience for yourself how the flavor of food can change under the influence of music. Take a bite while listening to the first sound clip from composer Ben Houge. Then take a short break, a sip of water, and listen to the second sound clip while taking another bite. Think about how the flavor changes and enjoy eating chocolate financiers in the name of science. We encourage repeating the experiment to validate your data.
Before You Begin
Use a finely ground almond flour made from blanched almonds, like Bob’s Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour. This recipe will work with a true Dutch-processed cocoa powder like Droste or a blended cocoa powder like Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa. A pastry bag makes portioning this batter into the muffin tin a cinch. If you don’t have one, place plastic wrap directly onto surface of batter in bowl to prevent a skin from forming. We love using a mini muffin tin for these as the financiers look really nice and have a perfect ratio of crisp exterior to soft interior, but they can also be made in a standard muffin tin.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees F/191 degrees C. Whisk together sugar, all-purpose flour, espresso powder, and salt in heatproof large bowl. Sift almond flour through fine-mesh strainer into bowl; discard any coarse bits in strainer. Sift cocoa powder into bowl. Whisk to combine. Form well in center of sugar mixture. Pour egg whites into center of well, then whisk, gradually incorporating sugar mixture, until well combined and glossy, scraping down bowl as needed, about 1 minute. Set aside.
- Bring butter and chocolate to simmer in small saucepan over medium-high heat, about 2 minutes. Working quickly, whisk hot butter-chocolate mixture into bowl with batter until smooth and well incorporated, about 30 seconds. Transfer batter to pastry bag and set aside at room temperature for at least 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes.
- Spray muffin tin with vegetable oil spray. Pipe or scoop 1½ tablespoons batter into each cup. (If you are using a mini muffin tin, the batter should stop ⅛ inch below rim. If you are using a regular muffin tin, the batter should stop ½ inch below rim.) Bake financiers until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 13 to 15 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Let financiers cool in tin for 5 minutes. Unmold financiers and transfer to wire rack. Serve.
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