Chocolate blueberry friands and alliteration

I’m taking a brief break from my Australian recipes. I’m still busily baking all things Australian, but I made these friands for a dinner party recently and I couldn’t wait to share the recipe with you. They’re super speedy to make, and they always look impressive.

They’re such humble little morsels, but they pack so much flavour! Deceptively delicious is how I would describe them.

And the mixture of blueberry and chocolate? Divine.

I’ve unwittingly described these friands using words mostly beginning with “d.” How odd. I just asked Wikipedia (yes, it’s a reputable source) and it told me that friand means “dainty” or a “gourmet who delights in delicate tastes” – clearly I’m not the only one who is compelled to describe the friand using “d” words.

Maybe it’s because of the unexpected “d” in friand? Who knows.

What “d word” would you choose to describe friands?

Chocolate blueberry friands:

Makes 9

• 4 egg whites
• 160g butter
• 1 cup almond meal, sifted
• 1.5 cups icing sugar
• ½ cup plain flour
• 60g milk choc chips
• 50g blueberries

Preheat your oven to 180° and grease your friand tin* with spray oil.

Whisk your egg whites on a medium speed for about one minute, or until they start to froth up slightly. Melt your butter in the microwave and add it to the egg whites. Sift your almond meal and icing sugar straight into the bowl, then add the plain flour in, mixing until everything is just combined. Pop the blueberries and choc chips into the mixture, then mix them gently until they’re well distributed throughout the mixture.

Spoon about three tablespoons of mixture into each cavity your friand tin*(keeping in mind that they won’t rise very much.) Pop them into the oven for 23-25 minutes, until the edges of friands are nice and golden.

Let them cool for 2 minutes, then turn the tin upside down onto a cooling rack. Let them cool completely, dust with icing sugar and serve with blueberries and chocolate.

*It does help to have a friand tin, but there’s nothing to stop you spooning the mixture into small cupcake moulds instead of friand ones.