When Lemcke gifted me a few of their oils recently it really got my creative juices flowing. As you all know by now I favour simplicity over complication and FLAVOUR is always of ultimate importance. The Almond Oil from Lemcke is refined and is therefore better used for baking and cooking as it is more stable at higher heats. In the continual search for lunchbox friendly and teatime treats to satisfy my boys every growing appetites and nutritional needs I decided to use this light oil in some stunning little bakes called “friands”.

Friands are basically little cakes typically oval in shape originally from France, made using ground almonds and melted butter, in this case substituted with the Almond Oil. Traditionally they ONLY use whisked egg whites but I included the yolks here too and a whole boiled orange (pureed) for that sun-kissed taste of summer! The recipe is slightly adapted to JUST use Almond flour which also makes them gluten free, and I only used very little honey to sweeten them, making them healthy enough for every day consumption. I don’t have an oval friand pan so I just used my muffin pan… I am not “shapist” anyway 🙂 and I think they look just as pretty round.

Makes 8

Ingredients:

• 1 whole orange boiled for about an hour and cooled (150g in weight)
• 2 large free range organic eggs
• 150g Almond flour
• 1/4 cup honey
• Zest of one orange
• 1/4 cup Almond Oil
• Whole or flaked almonds for decoration.

1. Heat the oven up to 180C or 160C fan.
2. Grease and line a muffin pan with little circles of baking paper in the bottom (if you don’t do this they will not come out of the pan!)
3. Puree the entire orange in a small food processor until smooth – you may need to add a little water to get it completely smooth.
4. Separate the eggs and add the yolks to the orange mixture in the food processor and blend.

1.  In a bowl mix together the orange & egg mixture with the almond flour, almond oil, honey and orange zest.
2. In a clean separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they are in stiff peaks.

1. Mix in 1/3 of the egg white into the orange almond mixture to loosen in up and then fold in the rest gently so as not to loose the air.
2. Spoon the mixture into the muffin pan carefully and evenly distributed amongst 8 of the holes.
3. Place in the middle shelf of the oven for 15-20mins – taking care not to burn them.
4. Allow them to cool and run a blunt knife around the edges of them and using a dessert spoon gently lift them out and remove the grease-proof/baking paper from underneath.

P.S my eldest son just came into my office and asked me for “some more of those delicious orange cakes” 🙂 result!