Susan Morrison's Peach, Lavender & Rosemary Friands

PEACH, LAVENDER & ROSEMARY FRIANDS

These are little bites of two halves. Fleshy with summer fruit and ground nuts, yet delicate, herbaceous and floral. They just sing of the tender buds of early summer. Sweet, moist and seductive. Make a batch and sit back and let those mouthfuls of sunshine spread through your veins.

Ingredients:

120g Butter, unsalted

200g Almonds, lightly toasted

50g Hazelnuts, lightly toasted

20g Brazil Nuts, lightly toasted

½ tsp Rosemary Leaves, finely chopped

½ tsp Culinary Lavender Buds

½ tsp Salt

65g Plain Flour

300g Golden Caster Sugar

5 Egg Whites

2 Peaches cut into thin slices

Rosemary Sprigs and Icing Sugar to decorate

Method:

Preheat oven 180C. Grease and flour a 12 hole friend mould, or muffin tray and set aside in the fridge.

Add the sugar, lavender and rosemary to a food processor and blitz until broken down, not too much, a little texture adds a pop of flavour.

Add the butter to a small saucepan and melt over a low heat. Increase the heat and bubble, swirling the mixture until the milk solids begin to caramelise. It will turn amber in colour and give the scent of nutty digestive biscuits. Pour into a jug and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Add the nuts to a food processor and blitz to a fine crumb the texture of ground almonds, (or use ground almonds of equivalent weight). Transfer to a large bowl and mix with the salt, flour and scented sugar.

Add the egg whites and mix until homogenous, not too much as you don’t need to aerate this mix.

Stream in the brown butter, whisking as you go and transfer to a piping bag.

Pipe into the moulds (or use a spoon) and top with a couple of peach slices.

Bake on the middle shelf for 25-28 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

Allow to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before easing out with a spatula onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cool, dust with icing sugar, top with rosemary sprigs and serve. These really sing alongside some freshly whipped cream.