Almond Financiers Recipe (Easy French Dessert!)

This easy almond financiers recipe are are the perfect mixture of sweet and buttery with almond flour, egg whites, sugar, and nutty browned butter. These small, French almond flour cakes may easily be made gluten-free with a simple adaptation.

Best recipe for almond financiers

Financiers are a small French almond cake made of butter, almond flour, egg whites, a small amount of flour, and sugar. Similar to almond flour biscotti, they are traditionally served as a small bite of sweet after dinner or with tea. They have a crispy, chewy exterior with a soft, spongy inside.

Typically these pastries are made in a small rectangular molds, resembling a brick of gold. This is how they got their “financiers” name, which is french for finances or banker.

However, no special equipment is required for this recipe! If you do not have a financier mold, simply use a mini muffin pan to produce the perfect two-bite dessert!

Ingredients notes

The beauty of financiers is such a simple list of ingredients can yield a highly addictive infusion of flavor! I dare you to only pop one of these browned butter beauties into your mouth!

• Unsalted butter – If you use salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe
• Almond flour – Use finely sifted blanched almond flour, not almond meal. For more almond flour recipes, check out this valuable, free resource! Some financiers recipes use alternative nut flours, such as hazelnut flour.
• Granulated sugar
• Flour (regular or gluten-free) – For gluten-free financiers I recommend using Cup4Cup gluten-free flour
• Egg whites – Makes the small cakes light and airy. Leftover egg yolks may be frozen or use to make a lemon curd to dollop on top!

HOW TO MAKE almond FINANCIERS recipe

(Below shows step-by-step photos and modified instructions. For the complete recipe, along with ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card.)

1. First, preheat the oven to 375ºF and liberally grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin with baking spray.
2. Next, brown the butter (step-by-step-directions below) in a small saucepan. Immediately pour the melted butter into a small bowl so the residual pan heat does not burn the butter.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients – almond flour, sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in the egg whites and then browned butter.
4. Distribute the batter into the mini-muffin pan, filling up each tin about halfway. To do this quickly and evenly, use a small cookie scoop, which holds about 1 tablespoon dough.
5. If desired, top with sliced almonds, chopped chocolate, sliced fruit, or a berry. Bake for 14 minutes, or until tops are golden. Cool on a wire rack.

HOW TO brown butter

Although you can skip the step of browning the butter for the recipe, it does add a caramel, nutty taste to pair nicely with the almond flour. Plus, it is as easy as melting butter on the stovetop!

1. In a small skillet melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Once the butter is fully melted watch carefully and stir occasionally so butter doesn’t burn. First the butter will foam, then the white milk solids will start to settle at the bottom.
3. Watch for the milk solids to turn brown. Once that happens, immediately remove from heat. 
4. Pour browned butter into a bowl so it doesn’t cook more and burn from residual heat of pan.

can I make my own almond flour?

Yes. If you have blanched (slivered almonds without skins) and a food processor you can make your own almond flour in seconds. For more detailed instructions and pictures, go to my almond flour recipes post.

pan options for financiers

They are called financiers because they were baked in a mold pan shaped like a bar of gold. To avoid buying another pan, a non-stick mini muffin pan works great!

gluten-free modification

A couple tablespoons of flour is added to help bind together the ingredients. Since it’s such a small amount of flour, swapping it out gluten-free all purpose flour, does not affect the recipe at all.

So make gluten free financiers with ease and no one will recognize any difference in taste or texture!

additions and variations

After dividing up the batter in your baking pan, you can place a variety of flavor enhancers on top. For classic French financiers sprinkle with turbinado sugar to enhance the chewy crust, but below are some other flavor options!

If adding anything to the tops, be sure to rest it right on top, without pressing down. As the financiers bake, the toppings will sink down slightly into the middle.

Alternatively, for chocolate lovers, try chocolate financiers, which taste like irresistible brownie bites!

• Fresh berry, such as blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries
• Silvered almonds
• Chopped stone fruit, such as plum, nectarine, peach, or apricot
• Chopped chocolate or chocolate chips
• Mix in 1 teaspoon orange zest to the batter

storing tips

Almond financiers will stay good in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week. To store leftovers longer, wrap the small cakes securely with plastic wrap and transfer to a zip close freezer bag. Freeze up to 2 months.

Click here to see the
step-by-step web story instructions for this recipe!

More almond flour recipes

• Almond Flour Pancakes
• Almond Flour Oatmeal Cookies
• Almond Flour Zucchini Bread
• Almond Flour Banana Muffins

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