1.Preheat oven to moderately hot 200°C (180°C fan-forced).. Grease 12 x ½-cup (125ml) pans; stand on oven tray.
2.Place egg whites in medium bowl, whisk lightly with fork until combined. Add remaining ingredients to bowl. Using wooden spoon, stir until just combined. (To add flavour variations, below.)
3.Divide mixture among prepared pans.
4.Bake in moderately hot oven about 25 minutes. Stand 5 minutes then turn onto wire rack. Serve dusted with extra sifted icing sugar, if desired.
5.These variations are added to the basic almond friand mixture.
6.RASPBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE Stir 100g coarsely chopped white chocolate into the egg-white mixture. Top friands with 100g fresh or frozen raspberries.
7.LIME COCONUT Stir 2 teaspoons finely grated lime rind, 1 tablespoon lime juice and ¼ cup (20g) desiccated coconut into the egg-white mixture; sprinkle unbaked friands with ¹⁄³ cup (15g) flaked coconut.
8.PASSIONFRUIT Use hazelnut or almond meal. Drizzle the pulp of two medium passionfruit over unbaked friands.
9.BERRY Top unbaked friands with 100g fresh or frozen mixed berries.
10.CITRUS AND POPPY SEED Add two teaspoons grated lemon or orange rind and one tablespoon poppy seeds to the egg-white mixture.
11.CHOCOLATE AND HAZELNUT Replace almond meal with hazelnut meal. Stir 100g coarsely chopped dark chocolate into egg-white mixture. Sprinkle unbaked friands with ¼ cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts.
12.PLUM Use hazelnut or almond meal. Top unbaked friands with 2 medium (200g) thinly sliced plums.
If using frozen berries, use them unthawed to minimise their colour “bleeding” into the mixture. You can use frozen egg whites, thawed, in these recipes. These are readily available in supermarkets. Friands are at their best made on the day of serving, but can be stored in an airtight container for two days, or frozen for up to three months. Frozen friands can be thawed, individually wrapped in foil, in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes or in a microwave oven, unwrapped, on HIGH (100%) for about 30 seconds. This basic mixture will also fill 9 x ½-cup (125ml) oval friand pan or 8 x ½-cup (125ml) rectangular friand pan. Friands gain their texture from the icing sugar and almond meal that partly replaces flour. any one of these delicious friands will go perfectly with your morning cup of coffee
