Madeleines

Financiers (Almond cake) are one of favorite snacks! Financiers are as rich as the Financiers for whom they were created and as golden as the precious ingots after which they were modeled. These small almond tea cakes were first made in the 19th Century by a pastry chef named Lasne, whose shop was on the rue Saint-Denis, close to the Bourse (Paris's Stock Exchange). Knowing that his affluent wheeler-dealer clients were discriminating, but also realizing that they were always in a hurry, Lasne designed this little unglazed cookie-cake so that it could be eaten on the run sans knife, fork, or spoon and completely without risk to stain their suit, shirt, or tie. I like to think that the Financiers as early high class fast food!

A tray full of golden Financiers. I added a thin slices of apple on top of the Financiers just to add some color. The Financiers has a distinctive rich caramel and nut flavor from the beurre noisette, which is butter cook until it turns a deep brown and gives out the flavor or hazelnuts.

The original Financiers were baked in small rectangular pans, so that the cakes resembled bar of gold, but the cakes can be also baked in small boat shaped molds and also in mini muffin tins. I used the traditional molds for Financiers. I found these molds at "Sur la Table", they are expensive but worth it since I made this little cakes quite often

Close look at the Financiers. The shape of the Financiers are definitely make to look like a gold bar!

I frequently bake the Financiers because they are so good and they hit the spot when I am craving something sweet. Chocolate Financier is another variation of this recipe and they are also very good.

The dough is made with butter, flour, almond, and white eggs. The dough need to rest for at least 1 hour before it can be baked.

Coming out of the oven. These cakes only take about 10/15 minutes in the oven for them to turn golden and crunchy!