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Financiers count among the biggest wonders in the world of pastry. Few ingredients, simple preparation and marvellous, sophisticated result. I have already written about them quite a long time ago (here<\/a>), but this new summer fruit version turned out so good, I absolutely wanted to share it with you. As I have written in my old post, Financiers are one of the most famous French pastry items and a pure delight for almond fans. They contain almost no flour, but mainly butter, powdered almonds, egg whites and sugar, so you can imagine how intense the almond taste is.<\/p>\n Baked since the Middle Ages by French\u00a0nuns of the\u00a0Visitation of Mary, at first they were not called financiers and had an oval form. Then, for a certain time they were forgotten and around 1890, Lasne, a Parisian confectioner, revived the recipe. Since his shop was close to the stock market and financiers were his regular clients, he named the cakes \u201cfinanciers\u201d and transformed their form into the one recalling a gold ingot, probably thinking they appealed more to his clients. I usually make my financiers in muffin forms, but this time somehow the rectangular shape seemed more appropriate.<\/p>\n Financiers have different versions and raspberry addition seems quite popular, especially in the summer. When I decided to add the fruits I was worried that their acidity might spoil the perfect harmony of the Financiers. Luckily I was wrong. Raspberries bring a subtle tangy note, but they disturb neither the Financiers’ extremely soft, mouth-melting consitency nor their sophisticated taste. I encourage everyone to try this version before raspberries disappear from market stalls.<\/p>\n My recipe comes from\u00a0Le\u00e7ons de cuisine de l\u2019\u00e9cole Ritz-Escoffier\u00a0<\/a>. The only thing I have modified is the sugar amount (70 g instead of the original 85g).<\/p>\n TIPS: Financiers are very easy to prepare and are an excellent occasion to use up egg whites. Finding powdered (not only ground) almonds might be difficult. I always buy ground almonds and sift them through a sieve. The leftover, big bits of ground almonds are excellent to prepare the even easier\u00a0Thumbprint Almond Cookies<\/a>\u00a0(see the recipe\u00a0here<\/a>) or Kings’ Pie (Galette des Rois)<\/a>, which is also a good way to use up two yolks, leftover from this small batch of Financiers…<\/p>\n