This easy 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 financiers
Financiers are a small French almond cake made of butter, almond flour, egg whites, a small amount of flour, and sugar. 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 the are made in a small loaf pan, resembling a brick of gold. This is how they got their “financiers” name, which is french for finances or banker.
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 almond flour, not almond meal
- Granulated sugar
- Flour (regular or gluten-free) – For gluten-free financiers I recommend using Cup4Cup gluten-free flour
- Egg whites
HOW TO MAKE FINANCIERS recipe
(Note: This is a step-by-step tutorial with pictures. For more specific instructions, along with ingredient amounts, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.)
- First, preheat the oven to 375ºF and liberally grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin with baking spray.
- Next, brown the butter (step-by-step-directions below) and immediately pour into a small bowl so the residual pan heat does not burn the butter.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the almond flour, sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in the egg whites and then browned butter.
- 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.
- If desired, top with sliced almonds, chopped chocolate, sliced fruit, or a berry. Bake for 14 minutes, or until tops are golden.
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!
- In a small skillet melt the butter over medium heat.
- 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.
- Watch for the milk solids to turn brown. Once that happens, immediately remove from heat.
- Pour browned butter into a bowl so it doesn’t cook more and burn from residual heat of pan.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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.
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!
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!
After dividing up the batter in your baking pan, you can place a variety of flavor enhancers on top. I sprinkled the tops with turbinado sugar to enhance the chewy crust, or place a fresh berry, slivered almonds, sliced stone fruit, or chopped chocolate on top.
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!
These almond flour financiers will stay good in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week. To store longer, they may also be wrapped securely and frozen up to 2 months.
More almond flour recipes
- Almond Flour Pancakes
- Almond Flour Oatmeal Cookies
- Almond Flour Zucchini Bread
- Almond Flour Banana Muffins
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Financiers Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons (71 g) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (85 g or 3 oz) finely ground almond flour
- ½ cup (113 g or 4 oz) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or gluten free flour, (I recommend Cup4Cup GF flour)
- â…› teaspoon salt
- â…“ cup (75 g) egg whites
- (optional) turbinado sugar, chopped chocolate, raspberries, blackberries, or slivered almonds, for tops
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF and liberally grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin with baking spray.
- To brown the butter, in a small skillet melt the butter over medium heat. 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. Watch for the milk solids to turn brown. Once that happens, immediately remove from heat. Pour browned butter into a bowl so it doesn't cook more and burn from residual heat of pan. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the almond flour, sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in the egg whites, making sure there are no clumps of flour. Stir in the browned butter, mixing well.
- Distribute the batter into the prepared pan, filling up each tin about halfway. To do this quickly and evenly, use a small cookie scoop, which holds about 1 tablespoon dough.
- If desired, sprinkle turbinado sugar on top then place sliced almonds, chopped chocolate, sliced fruit, or a berry gently on top. Do not press down because it will sink down as it bakes.
- Bake for 14 minutes, rotating pan halfway through, until the tops are golden brown. Run a small knife around the outside of each tin and invert onto a wire cooling rack. Turn cakes right side up and cool slightly before serving.
Equipment Needed
Recipe Notes
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. Â Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
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