Peanut Butter Financiers

It seems like I'm falling back into my Lazy Bakers ways, posting way behind everyone else. I'm trying to catch up! I can do it!

A financier is a little almond-brown butter cake, usually baked in little molds that make them look like little bars of gold. This version includes a bit of peanut butter as well.

Apparently these financiers can also be called "ingots," which to me sounds like the larval form of some bug. There is nothing appetizing to me about ingot so I prefer to continue to call them financiers. According to the online merriam-webster dictionary:

Main Entry: in·got
Pronunciation: \ˈiŋ-gət\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, perhaps modification of Middle French lingot ingot of metal, incorrectly divided as l'ingot, as if from le, the
Date: 14th century

1 : a mold in which metal is cast
2 : a mass of metal cast into a convenient shape for storage or transportation to be later processed

Word hippo (not sure how I got there) suggests slab, nugget, lump, brick, bar, and block as other words for ingot.

This supports my refusal to call what I had baked as ingots, as they are not bars, they are flower shaped cakelettes. So nyah. (Sticks out tongue.)

March 22, 2010
Name of cakelettes: Peanut Butter Financiers
Occasion: HCB
Constituents: almond-brown butter cakes, with a bit of peanut butter

I hemmed and hawed for a few days as I couldn't decide what to bake my financiers in. The traditional mold of little rectangles was not an option (can't buy any more pans), the more common substitute of mini cupcakes was also not an option (can't buy any more pans). I don't really have anything mini. I thought about regular sized cupcakes, but remembered reading that these have a great crust and that was why the little pans were so great--a good ratio of crust to inside. So I decided to use my cakelette pan, as it is cast aluminum and I hoped it would give these cakes a nice crust.

The cakelette pan has 6 cavities, each holding about 1 cup. I calculated the recipe and knew I wasn't going to be able to fill all 6 cavities, but decided to go ahead anyway. It would probably be good for Cookie, her husband, and I to eat less cake this week.

The batter was very simple. Sliced almonds are lightly toasted, and ground into a powder along with powdered sugar and flour. Brown butter is made, which smells delicious. Egg whites are beaten until foamy, to which the flours are added. The brown butter is slowly added to the mix, taking about 5 minutes to let everything emulsify and be happy. Lastly, the peanut butter is mixed in and the batter is ready to go.

I was able to get four cakelettes, which I thought was pretty good. I patted myself on the back for remembering to turn the oven down by 25 degrees since I had a dark pan. A little bit later these lovely peanut buttery smelling cakes came out of the oven and I set them on a rack to cool. After about 10 minutes I turned them out and Cookie, who had come over, and I smelled their aroma and waited a bit until they were cooler. They had a nice, tight, shiny and crusty crust which was pleasing. We cut one open to sample, saving the other 3 for craft night. They smelled like peanut butter cookies, but they didn't taste as strongly of peanut butter as they smelled. The texture of the cake was amazing--light, delicate, melt-in-your-mouth, and moist. It was the flavor. Something was missing. Maybe a little salt? Perhaps my peanut butter was unsalted?

I am glad to say they are better the next day--the flavors have woke up a bit and sorted themselves out. I can taste the almond now, and the peanut butter is a nice playmate. The texture is still wonderful and light.

shortly after coming out of the oven

I thought about glazing these cakes in the leftover hot fudge glaze, but was worried that it would overpower the cakes. So I made some peanut butter cupcakes and glazed those suckas with the hot fudge. Delicious!!