Financier and decisions, decisions, decisions!

When I had my first financier, I was still a financier but had no idea that the it was called a financier. Now, isn't that a cute play on words? Alright, alright, I'll spare you the agony.

Financier (fee-naah-syehr) - a dense, little French teacake with a slightly crispy exterior but an inside that's melt-in-your-mouth soft.  The basic financier uses very simple ingredients:  butter, sugar, almond powder, egg-whites and flour but the end result is a rich and distinctive flavor, mainly due to the use of brown butter, or beurre noisette. Some recipes add baking soda (which I'd rather prefer to omit) but in the original version, the egg-whites are the only form of leavening; this to me, is one of the key difference between financier and its cousin, the madeleines, another favorite teacake of mine. Well of course, madeleines are shell-shaped and baked in madeleine pans whereas financiers, in its truest, most original form are baked in mini financier moulds - moulds resembling gold ingots -  which are much tinier than the tiniest loaf pans you can find in the market!

According to Dorie in Paris Sweets, these teacakes were created in the late 19th century by a French pastry chef who owned a shop close to the Paris's stock exchange. He had clients that were, naturally, always on the go so he cleverly made these tiny, un-fussy little ingots of delights for his financier customers, to be enjoyed on the run. Now imagine if I'd discovered this when I was the financier on-the-run? Stressed about the month's financial performance? Have a financier! Having to deal with moronic requests to embark about new projects that have not been factored in the fiscal budget? Have a financier! Working insanely long hours to consummate a major business deal? Have a financier!


Surprisingly, the most memorable financier I've had was not from France, but from Japan, of all places. It was a slim elongated rectangle, smaller than a Mars bar, richly dense, subtly soft with hints of brown butter, hazelnut and really, really good honey. I've tasted many financiers in Paris, great bakeries in San Francisco and even other parts of the Bay Area but somehow the one I had in Japan really stood out. About a month ago, I decided to embark upon my Financier Project and experiment with different flavors and textures. I started getting store-bought financiers - God knows how many different types I've purchased from the various bakeries I could find that sold financiers - then made my own batches to contrast and compare for the perfect taste, texture and form.

Decisions, decisions, decisions! Hazelnut meal or almond meal? Melt-in-your-mouth or more dense and slightly chewy? Do I prefer the darker-shade financiers?

What about the moulds - rectangle ingots (I bought my financier moulds from Paris but I've also seen them locally; definitely available in my favorite store),  or little boat shapes or how about these mini rosettes?

After 3 weeks and countless batches of home-made financiers later, I think I've got the perfect financier recipe for me. Orange clover honey financier. I like the exterior to be slightly crusty to the bite. I like the insides to be soft, even slightly chewy - just a tad but still great for dunking into tea (or coffee or milk if you so prefer).  And I've decided that while the traditional rectangle ingot shape lends the most suitable form for dunking, I much prefer cutting into the daintier florets. A bit more fuss for this simple, takes-no-longer-than-10-minutes-to-whip-up teacake is perfectly fine, I reckoned.

I invited couple girlfriends over for tea yesterday and served these mini financier rosettes along with cucumber sandwiches, banana-cinnamon cakes, almond teacakes, a touch of Americana - strawberry mini cheesecakes and dark chocolate World Peace cookies with of course, a nice big pot of Mariage Frères' Thé de vanille.  Between the girly chats, nibbling the goodies, more catch-ups and more nibblings, we managed to finish most of the teacakes! Fortunately, there were some leftovers for the girls to pack home to share with their families. 
So, I don't have any good pictures of the high tea spread to share but the financiers were my friend Leah's favorite. You'd just have to take my word on that!  The small tea party yesterday brought back many fond memories of a birthday celebration we had 3 years ago. I brought the ladies to this little place for their birthday lunch and back then, none of us would've thought that we will be sitting in my kitchen some years later, enjoying home-made teacake offerings made by yours truly. Equally good, I must say. I promised  the ladies that when I come back in Fall, my baking skills would have, should have been augmented to the next level and then we'll reconvene for another tea party chez moi - à la française, bien sûr! Here's to my La Vie en rose à Paris!

Here's a great financier recipe from Paris Sweets.