Pistachio Financier

Financiers are delicious French tea cakes usually made of almonds. The dainty cakes are known for their   beurre noisette and toasted almond flavor. Used to come in gold bar shapes but now they are made in different forms too like small trapezoid shapes, tiny muffin tins and so on. I made these financiers this time with pistachio because I love its distinctive taste with this cake. Shell at least a cup of pistachios for this recipe. 

Pistachio Financiers

2/3 cup of unsalted butter

1 cup finely ground roasted pistachios

1/2 or less cup of confectioner's sugar

1/4 plus 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour 

3 egg whites

Melt the butter over moderate heat until lightly brown. pour the butter into a small bowl and leave behind any sediment in the pan. Set aside. In the food processor grind the pistachios again with the sugar and flour until powdery. Add egg whites and mix until smooth. Then add the browned butter and blend well. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract if you wish but I omitted it in this recipe so as not to mask the delicate flavor of the pistachios. Put in the fridge covered to cool for a couple of hours.

When cooled fill the molds with 3/4 of a teaspoon and bake in a preheated 350F oven for at least 15 minutes or until lightly brown. They should come off easily from the trapezoid shaped silicon mold.

Serve them in any way you like or stack them like gold bars for their name sake.

Enjoy these with a cup of green tea if you wish.