Passionfruit friands

One of the terrible thing about winter is getting the flu, lying in my sick bed for 2 weeks with two courses of anti-botics is nothing I would wish for.  Everyday I just hope that I'll feel better so I could enjoy Good Food, Great Love and have a Good Laugh again.  As we have such as long winter this year, I truly welcome Spring to come in September.

I have got some egg white left from the strawberry vanilla tart I have made previously.  It just fitted perfectly into the recipe of this almond friands.  I actually bake this while making the tart pastry so I end up with two desserts in one cooking day.  I always wonder how it tastes like when I see them at the display window in the cafe.  The reason I never order one as I  would go for something more complicated looking.  After baking and tasting it, I can tell you that friands may look simple but it doesn't taste plain at all.  It is rich in butter and taste heavier than muffins.  I add in some passionfruit as my passionfruit tree has yielded so much fruit this year, thanks to the heavy rainfall we have last summer.

Other than passionfruit, I also have some good harvest of cherry tomatoes, pumpkins and papaya from my garden.  The blueberry trees are blooming with flowers and I am looking for some fruit very soon before my dog eats them.  The pile of cooking magazines I have been buying from the supermarket checkout has been building up and it has some nice recipes of seasons fruit.  What's the point of buying them and not using the recipes?  In August, I'm working on the those magazines for the seasoned fruit.

 Passionfruit Almond Friands

Ingredients:
6 egg whites
185g butter, melted
1 cup almond meal
1 1/3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
2 passionfruits

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200c.
2. Place egg white in a mixer until stiff, fold in butter, almond meal, shifted icing sugar and flour until just combined.  Add in two passionfruit pulps.
3. Pour mixture into friands pan or cupcake cases, bake 25 minutes.  Dust with icing sugar when the cake is cool.

Source: Australian Women's Weekly - Mix: cakes, muffins, biscuits + pudding