Elizabeth Bard’s Financiers aux Abricots et à la Lavande
This recipe for a sweet snack, mini-cakes, comes from Elizabeth Bard’s latest book Picnic in Provence: A Memoir with Recipes. The author combines the flavours of Provence apricot and lavender in a traditional French dessert. The recipe is published with the author’s permission.
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Mini–Almond Cakes with Apricot and Lavender - Financiers aux Abricots et à la Lavande
Ingredients
- 7 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tsp almond extract or a few drops of real bitter almond essence, if you can find it!
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups almond meal ground almond flour
- 1 good pinch coarse sea salt
- ¼ tsp culinary lavender buds plus a few for garnish
- 6 small apricots halved and pitted
- 1 tsp light brown sugar or raw cane sugar for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400°F.
- With a stand mixer, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the almond and vanilla extracts; fold in the ground almonds until thoroughly combined. Add a good pinch of coarse sea salt and the lavender buds to the mix. Stir to combine.
- Line a muffin tin with aluminum-foil cupcake wrappers (paper wrappers will stick). Divide the batter evenly into 12 mini-cakes (a heaping tablespoon of batter for each should do it).
- Place an apricot half, skin side down, in the center of each mini-cake. Place 1 or 2 lavender buds on each apricot (resist the urge to add more). Sprinkle the fruit with a pinch of brown sugar.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. I peel the wrappers off before serving, but you don't have to, especially if you take them on a picnic or otherwise transport them.
Lavender’s intoxicating fragrance is like a journey into a perfume bottle. So why not take that into the kitchen? The herb is a member of the mint family, and specifically grown culinary lavender is edible and adds a unique flavour to baked goods, desserts, and savoury dishes.
The important thing about using fresh lavender is to make sure that it is organic and has not been sprayed with pesticides or grown with fertilizer that is not consumer-friendly. If you do not have access to fresh lavender, you can use dried, but make sure it is culinary-grade. Also, use only about ¼ the suggested amount, as dried herbs are more potent than fresh.
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