Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Friands
Tasty little cakes made from egg whites and ground almonds with only a smidgen of flour. These cinnamon chocolate chip friands are easy to make gluten free. You can even make them vegan.
A while back, ahem, I had two egg whites left over from the coconut cream pie I made. Since making friands for the first time just after Christmas, I had something other than meringues or macaroons to use them in and I was keen to experiment some more.
What Are Friands?
Friands are sweet little cakes that are crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. They are made with egg whites, rather than whole eggs. Surprisingly, they have no other raising agent, but the texture is quite light and really very nice indeed.
They hail from Australia but are influenced by France where they are known as financiers. The main difference between the two is that financiers are made with brown butter and friands are not. Friands are also generally oval in shape, where as a traditional financier is rectangular. As most people don’t have oval shaped moulds, most friands are in fact round and baked in a muffin pan.
Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Friands
I have a sneaking suspicion that friands are going to be my new passion! They are dead simple to make and really delicious. They’re crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They have a lovely light aroma and taste of cinnamon and the dark chocolate balances the sweetness really well.
Using only four moulds would have given a deeper cake, but I think they work well half filled; as a result there is more crispness per cake and it makes for a daintier portion. Or do I just mean an excuse to have a second one?
To make them gluten free, just swap out the flour for a gluten-free version. I find buckwheat flour gives a good result.
Vegan Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Friands
It’s actually quite simple to veganise these cinnamon chocolate chip friands. Just follow the recipe as is, but use two tablespoons of aquafaba for each egg white. So in this case you’ll need four tablespoons of aquafaba. Whisk until frothy, just as you would for the egg whites.
In lieu of butter, use coconut oil instead. Melt it over a low heat and leave to cool a little before mixing in.
I’ make these vegan cinnamon chocolate chip cookies doing just this and they work really well. I’ve used both the water from a tin of chickpeas and water from a tin of butter beans as the aquafaba.
Gluten-Free Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Friands
It’s even easier to make these cinnamon chocolate chip friands gluten-free. Just use your favourite gluten-free flour instead of wheat flour. I like buckwheat flour, but I’ve also used brown rice flour, which works well too.
What To Make With Leftover Egg Yolks
This recipe leaves two leftover egg yolks. However, I always see this as a good opportunity to make something else. That something else is usually some sort of custard. But there are other delicious options.
Here are all the recipes on Tin and Thyme that use only egg yolks.
Other Friand Recipes You Might Like
- Chilli chocolate chip friands
- Choc chip friands with brown butter (gluten-free)
- Raspberry rose friands
- Rhubarb & white chocolate friands
- Vegan friands (gluten-free)
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these little Australian cakes, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more little cake recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Friands. PIN IT.
Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Friands – The Recipe
Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Friands
Ingredients
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 2 egg whites
- 80 g icing sugar
- 30 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat)
- 40 g ground almonds
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 35 g dark chocolate chopped – or use chips (I used 70%)
- flaked almonds (optional)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a small pan over a low heat, then put aside to cool a little.60 g unsalted butter
- Whisk two egg whites until frothy but not stiff.2 egg whites
- Fold in the melted butter.
- Sift in the icing sugar, flour, almonds and cinnamon, then gently stir in.80 g icing sugar, 30 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat), 40 g ground almonds, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- Add the chopped chocolate.35 g dark chocolate
- Divide the mixture between 6 buttered muffin moulds and sprinkle a few flaked almonds on the tops, if you like.flaked almonds
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 25 minutes or until golden and risen with a domed top.
- Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
- Dust with a little icing sugar if you like.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I am contributing this recipe for cinnamon chocolate chip friands to Ruth Clemens’ Save the Children Recipe Challenge over at the Pink Whisk. The amount of malnutrition and starvation in our world is truly shocking. You can help a little by Naming A Day over at Save the Children. This campaign aims to get David Cameron to name a day to hold a summit on global hunger.
Thanks so much for taking part in our campaign to end child hunger. Your recipe is v.much appreciated! Rosie, Save the Children
Never heard of friands before but they look amazing! Oh I’d love to try one!!
OH yes indeedy! I do love a Friand and yours look JUST amazing! I am so pleased to see that you have linked these gorgeous little numbers in with The Pink Whisk and her Save the Children campaign – fabulous! Karen
They look cute not tried these before 🙂 Like the idea of htem being so light.
What a great and also easy recipe to follow. And it produces such delicious little cakes that look as light as a feather! I must join you in supporting such a worthwhile campaign too, thanks xx
It’s such a worthy cause and these friands look delicious – and the dark chocolate looks like the perfect addition…
I’ve made friands once, I think it was a Donna Hay recipe with blueberries. Need to try them again. Yous look …well yummy 🙂
These sound and looks scrummy! Will try one of these days 🙂
Love friands…I always bring some packs of friand cases home from trips to Australia as they are so quick & easy to bake & so delicious. simple to make gluten-free too, which is becoming more important on my Farmers Market stall.I particularly like raspberry or blueberry ones…but I may just give chocolate chip a whirl! x
I love these, gorgeous mini cakes!
Fab! I need to try these very soon! Thank you for sharing this recipe – looks simple but produces fantastic results!
Charlotte
@gofreecakes
I’ve never made friands, in fact I don’t think I’ve even ever eaten them! Definitely something I need to remedy as they look and sound delicious (and a much better way of using up egg whites than macarons, which I used to do – I’ve decided they’re far too sweet for me!).
I love the look of these and can’t wait to try them. Oooh yum.
Scrumptious ! I love friands – I make the ones with raisins in sometimes. They have a wonderful texture and such a great alternative to meringues. Yours look really beautiful 🙂
I’ve never tried friands, but I love the chocolate-cinnamon combination and they sound really simple to make – will ave to bookmark this for the next time I have egg whites to spare!
I’ve never made a friand before- thank you for the inspiration Choclette… do you have a specific friand tin? I think I’ve spotted those on the shelves of Lakeland, John Lewis et al!
No specific tin required. I just used muffin moulds and didn’t fill them. I have a feeling they are traditionally in an oval shape, but they look good as rounds too.
A fantastic recipe for a really important and worthwhile cause. Well done 🙂
Thank you Jude 🙂
They look lovely, and I like the idea of the crisp outside contrasting against the soft middle – very inviting indeed.
Rather too inviting C. These and Nonnettes are my new found loves – France has a lot to answer for!
These looks so yummy!
Happy Sunday
Ahh, thank you Manu. Hope you had a good weekend too.
These sounds fabulous. I don’t think I’ve ever had a ‘friand’.. will have to make soon.
Thanks for visiting Janet. I hadn’t had one either until I made some – simple and delicious, what could be better?
I’ve only ever had friands from shops but I always think they are not so different from muffins – these sounds great – I have one egg white and possibly will have another if I make the cake again but I had some egg yolk in one so I have ruled out anything that needs egg whites too fluffy but maybe this would work – love the flavour cobmination
Johanna, yes duffed up egg whites would be fine in these. I’ve never seen one in a shop over here, but the ones I’ve made are nothing like muffins, they have quite a different texture.
I do love a good friand – these look ace!
How come everyone knows about these except me?
Only 2 egg whites! That’s a frugal version of them too. They look perfect!
Thank you, high praise coming from a friand aficionado!
These look super tasty…and just a little bit moreish…I’d start with the best of intentions and only intend to eat one…but would probably end up eating at least 5!!! I went to a nice restaurant recently and they gave us a breakfast bag on the way out which had Friands in it amongst other things! 🙂
Friands for breakfast? I like that idea. Getting a breakfast bag sounds rather fun too.
They look beautiful. I can totally understand how these will become your knew favourites. I think I’m in love already!
Dom, we’re a fickle lot us bakers, but I really do want to try more of these.
They look scrummy!!
Just need to have some left over egg whites…what the heck-I’ll just make these and have some left over yolks instead!!
Ooh yes do, then you can make some ice-cream 😉
Oh you are speaking to my heart when you say chocolate chip friands. Great recipe, they look so good ;0)
Understand friands are really popular in Oz – if you’ve got any good recipes would love to see them 🙂