White Chocolate Nonnettes and Orange & Poppy Seed Friands
Having seen Phil’s We Should Cocoa entry in the Orange challenge from As Stong As Soup in December, I couldn’t resist making these for my mother’s birthday. Nonnettes, it seems, are little known outside of France. I searched on google for more information and alternative recipes, but Phil’s was the only one I could find in English (I gave up after page 6). The name means “little nuns” and they are a speciality of Dijon in France. They are little spiced honey cakes made with marmalade and rye flour and unusually, no eggs.
To use up the rest of the orange zest (I did have a very large orange) as well as the 4 eggs whites left over from making the trifle, I also decided to make friands as I’d not made those before either. For the friands I used a Waitrose recipe scaling down the quantities to 4 egg whites and adding the zest of 1/2 an orange and 2 tbsp of poppyseeds. For the nonnettes I mostly followed Phil’s recipe, but did make a few changes, such as: substituting some of the honey for agave nectar as I didn’t have quite enough honey, using more rye flour and less white chocolate as I was worried about the nonnettes being too sweet.
This is how I made them:
- Melted 150g runny honey (pre-biotic NZ Beech Forest Honeydew) in a small pan with 50 ml of agave nectar.
- Added 80g unsalted butter, 100g light brown sugar, 100 ml milk, 90 ml water and 10 ml orange liqueur (home made).
- Stirred until smooth then poured into a large mixing bowl.
- Sifted in 200g plain white flour and 100g wholemeal rye flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp bicarb of soda and 1/2 tsp ground cardamom seeds.
- Folded this into the honey mixture.
- Grated in the zest from half a large orange.
- Stirred in 50g chopped white chocoalte (G&B)
- Left in my cold kitchen for an hour.
- Spooned into 12 silicone muffin moulds.
- Added a teaspoonful of homemade Seville marmalade on top of each one.
- Baked for 20 minutes at 180C.
- Left in the moulds until cool.
- Mixed 2 tbsp of icing sugar with a little orange juice, so it was runny, but not overly so.
- Drizzled this over the the warm cakes whilst still in their moulds.
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| Friands |
Both of these were good, the friands were light and slightly crunchy due to the poppy seeds, but the nonnettes were my favourite and were truly delicious. The bitterness of the marmalade contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the cake and the rye gives a satisfying smoothness to the texture. The lumps of white chocolate were an added bonus.
Thank you Phil – I shall ever be grateful to you for these.
I am linking this to Baking Addict’s blog for #CitrusLove.
Foodycat
12th January 2012 at 11:44 amSpread the friand love! I want every cafe in the country to sell them, like they do in Oz.
Jean
12th January 2012 at 11:52 amYour nonnettes and friands look lovely. I have made friands a few times but had never heard of nonnettes until I read about them in Phil’s blog. I had never seen them for sale in France either, until this last visit when I found them on sale in a gift shop!
manu
12th January 2012 at 12:32 pmSounds delicious!!
Have a great afternoon.
Kath
12th January 2012 at 1:27 pmI am glad you made them, I saw Phil’s and they looked so good and now yours too – delicious.
Working london mummy
12th January 2012 at 2:00 pmwhat a lovely idea! I love friands and little cakes . these look so more ish!
Choclette
12th January 2012 at 2:41 pmFoodyCat – any cafe would be good! They are on the list for my cafe – when I start it :-S
Choclette
12th January 2012 at 2:45 pmJean – how funny they should be on sale in a gift shop.
Manu – thank you.
Kath – they are so worth making. Are you going to give them a go?
WLM – yes, little cakes to go!
Laura@howtocookgoodfood
12th January 2012 at 2:46 pmI love reading your blog for recipes like this. I have never heard of Nonettes but they sound wonderful and look great too. Have you ever tried canelles? They are my fave little cake I always buy at the food market on holiday in France. If and when you set up a cafe I will be first in the queue!
Junia
12th January 2012 at 2:52 pmthese little muffins look fabulous! sending some #citruslove to you!
oxslip
12th January 2012 at 7:44 pmYeah friands! Delicious
I am jealous of your clafoutis dish, it’s beautiful
Have you see this in The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/jan/12/how-to-make-perfect-hot-chocolate
?
Rolling Pin Claire
12th January 2012 at 8:49 pmI’m sold on the Nonnettes! So simple but they look and sound amazing. They’re on the list for the weekend, will let you know how I got on
A Trifle Rushed
12th January 2012 at 10:59 pmWhat delightful little cakes, I’ve made friends before, but have never heard of yet alone tried nonettes! And I went to a school run by French nuns, you’d think they would have let us know about these lovely treats! Jude x
A Trifle Rushed
12th January 2012 at 11:02 pmThis comment has been removed by the author.
A Trifle Rushed
12th January 2012 at 11:06 pmSorry, I am having a few problems with blogger and or my iPad!
The spell check has written friends instead of friands! And my last apology came out as gobble-de-gook!
Jude :-)x
Phil in the Kitchen
12th January 2012 at 11:41 pmThanks so much for trying my nonnette recipe. Maybe we’re ahead of the curve in predicting the next big thing in the cake world. They’re not a well known cake but I think they deserve to be a lot better known. Incidentally, the very best nonnettes I’ve eaten in France have been sold in local markets and made by small-scale beekeepers and producers of honey.
Baking Addict
13th January 2012 at 1:39 amBrilliant entry for #citruslove. Thanks! I saw the nonnettes recipe on Phil’s blog and it was the first time I’d heard of it. They look really good, I must give them a try. I’ve never made friands either but I did buy a friand tin last month. Both of these have really good combination of flavours. Wish I could try some now!
leaf (the indolent cook)
13th January 2012 at 6:51 amI must make nonnettes sometime, I don’t think I’ve ever had them but they sound absolutely delightful!
thelittleloaf
13th January 2012 at 1:45 pmI’d never heard of these before but they look gorgeous. And what better way to spread the word than with this perfect post. Definitely going to have to have a go at these soon 🙂
Dom at Belleau Kitchen
13th January 2012 at 5:24 pmit sounds like you’re speaking a made-up language… nonnettes…. friands…… chocolate….
Johanna GGG
14th January 2012 at 12:34 pmwow this could start a nonette fad in the english speaking blogosphere – would be interesting too – these sound great
C
14th January 2012 at 2:22 pmThey look great, and it sounds like a lovely combo of flavours. A good one to remember next time I run out of eggs.
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
14th January 2012 at 8:01 pmNonettes is such a cute name! I’ve long meant to investigate friands and hoping 2012 will be the year I manage it.
Karen S Booth
14th January 2012 at 8:04 pmNonettes and Friands are some of my favourite French bakes, and I DO have a recipe for both that I translated from French to English of you fancy another version? They look TOTALLY wonderful too….
cakeboule
14th January 2012 at 8:25 pmWhat a cute little cake. They look good and I especially like the fact they have no eggs inthem as sometimes I am sans ouefs!
Janice
14th January 2012 at 9:37 pmNice looking little cakes.
Chele
15th January 2012 at 6:43 amMmmmmmmmm – my stomach is rumbling now and it isn’t even 7am!!
Choclette
15th January 2012 at 9:09 pmLaura – I haven’t ventured far into French baking and have – or it seems eating!!! Haven’t had canelles either. I’ll let you know about the cafe 😉
Junia – thank you.
Oxslip – am yet to use the clafoutis dish. Thanks for the link, I had a read, which I probably shouldn’t have done as I couldn’t resist making myself a cup of hot chocolate – with real chocolate.
Claire – oh please do let me know what you think. We need to get these little beauties better known.
Jude – they must have thought you weren’t quite good enough for them 🙂
Phil – So I’m going to have to try and find myself a beekeeper or two next time I’m in France! We need to get these better known. It would be fun to start a trend.
Baking Addict – now you have a tin, you must make friands. I want a special tin now and one for nonnettes 😉
Leaf – they are delightful AND they are easy 😉
LittleLoaf – oh yes, please do and spread the word a little further 🙂
Dom – Now wouldn’t that be a thing to have made up chocolate?
Johanna – I very much hope so. Haven’t seen teh nonnettes posts rolling in yet though.
C – yes, it’s great to have a really good eggless recipe up one’s sleeve BUT don’t run out of honey!
Sarah – good luck with 2012 and friands 😉
Karen – trust you. Yes please, I would love to try your recipes. Will you do a post on them?
Cakeboule – things can get very tricky sans ouefs, so next time remember, it’s nonettes to the rescue.
Janice – thank you.
Chele – maybe you need some breakfast!
Cupcaker
17th February 2013 at 9:26 pmThe nonnettes look delicious, I had never heard of those before which is what made me check them out
JaynesDen
22nd April 2013 at 10:54 amThese look delicious. I must find out what a nonnette is !