Orange Pistachio Financiers

Course: Baked Goods, Dessert

Cuisine: Compliments many cuisines

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 17 minutes

Servings: cakes

Calories: 172kcal

Rich, petite cakes flavored with orange and pistachios.

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Equipment

mini cupcake pan or mini brioche molds

Ingredients

9 tablespoons butter
1 ½ cup unsalted pistachios with shells or ¾-cup shelled
½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one orange
1 orange cut into segments

Instructions

Brown butter

To brown the butter, put 8 tablespoons in a small saute pan over medium heat. Let the butter melt. You will see a lot of bubbles and the milk solids will rise to the top. Occasionally scrape the bottom of the pan to see if there is any brown reside. Soon the white bubbles will turn into foam on top of the butter. At this point, the butter should be turning a nutty brown color and there is a lot of residue on the bottom of the pan. Pour the butter and the residue into a container off of the heat. It will continue to brown because of carryover cooking.
Preheat the oven to 350 °

Prepare the pans

Melt one tablespoon of butter. With a pastry brush or a paper towel, coat the inside of the pan with butter. Make sure to get all crevices if you are using a fluted mold. Pour a small amount of sugar into the pan, moving it around so that the sugar adheres to the butter. This step will make it much easier to remove the cakes after baking. Also, it adds a nice crunch to the outside of the cake.

Cutting the orange

With a knife, cut off the orange peel. Try to get all the white pith off the oranges since it is bitter. Holding the orange in the palm of your hand, cut the orange segments also known as supremes, away from the membrane. With a sharp knife, cut down right alongside the membrane and then back up the left side to release the segment. When all the segments have been cut away, you should have just the orange membrane left in your hand.
If you have a large orange, you may want to cut the segments into smaller pieces. I had really large supremes, so I cut them laterally into thinner pieces.

Mix the batter

Unshell the pistachios. Only ½ cup of the shelled pistachios will be used for the batter. Set the rest to the side.
In a food processor, chop the pistachios until finely ground. Stop as soon as the nuts look like they are pulverized. If you process the nuts too long, they will turn into nut butter.
Combine the ground pistachios with flour, ½ cup of sugar, orange zest, and sea salt. Set aside.
It helps to whisk the egg whites slightly so that they are incorporated with each other. Add the vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, using a whisk to completely incorporate all ingredients.
Lastly, add the brown butter to the batter.
Chop the reserved ¼ cup of pistachios into small pieces. Sprinkle a few pieces into each mold or muffin pan. Add a few slices of the orange segments. I like to fan the orange slices so that they look pretty when unmolded.
I used a ¾ ounce scoop to add the batter to the pan on top of the nuts and oranges. This amount is just shy of 2 tablespoons.
Place in oven and bake for 15-17 minutes. The cakes usually take 16 minutes in my oven. They will spring back if you touch them when they are fully baked and a toothpick inserted in the middle will come out clean.
After removing the cakes from the oven, unmold them. These will be good for a day or two if stored in a covered container in the fridge.

Notes

I like to serve the financiers upside down, meaning they are unmolded and the nuts and orange are on top. Many recipes serve them right-side up. If you prefer this method, you may want to add the chopped pistachios and the oranges to the top of the batter.

Nutrition