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| Rhubarb, lemon & ginger friands |
A couple of weeks ago I
wrote about the tidy-up we had in our garden
and one of the things I was looking forward to was the rhubarb
growing so all the family could enjoy it in some tasty treats. All
four of us are rhubarb fans and the brilliant thing about rhubarb is
that it is so easy to grow. The variety we have is Timperley Early
but due to the seemingly constant snow in the past months it hasn't
been as early as usual. Despite living in Yorkshire we don't force it
but simply let it die down at the end of the season and then wait for
it to come back up the next year. That's it. The perfect crop for a
lazy gardener.
I've recently acquired 8
mini loaf tins which I have been desperate to use. Therefore I
decided to posh up my usual style and make some friands. You can buy
special friand tins but these tins have worked just as well. My tins
measure 9cm x 6cm around the top and have a depth of 4cm. You can
also bake these in muffin cases. If you do use muffin cases or
another sort of tin just make sure the mixture doesn't come any
further than two-thirds of the way up the sides.
This month's Recipes
for Life challenge for the Swallow charity is rhubarb, lemon and
spice and since these contain the magical trio I will be submitting
them to Vanesther at Bangers
& Mash.
With the seasonal rhubarb I
will also be sending this to Ren Behan for Simple
and in Season. Although, I expect she is probably sick of the
sight of rhubarb recipes by now. I'm sorry.
My tip for this recipe is
don't melt the butter until you need it otherwise it will cool and
turn back into its original state. Obviously this was done purely for
recipe testing methods...If you are wondering what to do with the
leftover 5 egg yolks I make a rich scrambled eggs with mine.
Alternatively you could also buy cartons of egg whites in the
supermarkets now. I've never tried them but I have heard very good
reports about them.
Equipment: 8
friand/little loaf tins or muffin tin lined, electric whisk.
Ingredients
2½
oz (75g) Plain
Flour
7oz (200g) Icing sugar
1 tsp (5ml) Ground ginger
4½
oz (125g) Ground almonds
Zest of 1 lemon
5 Egg whites
6oz (175g) unsalted butter,
melted
1 stick (about 2oz/50g)
Rhubarb, chopped into 1cm pieces.
Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C/Gas
mark 6.
2. Grease
the friand/loaf tins or line a muffin tin with paper cases.
3. In
a large bowl sift the flour, icing sugar and ground ginger.
4. Stir
in the ground almonds and lemon zest.
5. In
a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until frothy – not stiff
peaks!
6. Melt
the butter.
7. Fold
in the egg whites and butter into the dry ingredients.
8. Spoon
the mixture into the tins or cases.
9. Place
the rhubarb pieces on top of each friand.
10. Bake
for about 20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
11. Leave
in the tins for about 5 minutes to cool slightly and then turn out
onto a wire rack to cool completely.
