Is it clear by now how much I love hazelnuts and brown butter? It will be soon enough if it's not already. See, I thought that I didn't like nuts, especially nuts in any sort of baked good. But I recently discovered that I love the flavor, I just hate the texture. So no nuts in brownies or cookies or cakes or anything like that unless they're ground up (or just scattered on top for decoration maybe); if they're ground up, I can't get enough apparently! So I'm really just making up for those 30 nut-free years.
Financiers should be made in a financier pan - they look like tiny little loaf-shaped cakes. But I don't have a financier pan, so I used my mini-muffin pan instead. They're sort of like a Madeleine in that they're a cross between cookies and cake. I liked these, and the rest of my department seemed to really enjoy them too, so I'll definitely make them again. But I think I may play around a little more - maybe add one whole raspberry to the middle of each one or some sort of chocolate... and the brown-butter glaze with fleur de sel is delicious!
For the Financiers (Adapted from Rose's Heavenly Cakes)
Makes 28 mini-muffin-shaped financiers, or 16 actual financiers (3" x 1" x 1 1/4").
3/4 cup toasted and ground hazelnuts
10 tablespoons butter
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 egg whites, room temperature
3 tablespoons hazelnut praline (you can use store-bought or make your own)
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