Financiers are a french pâtisserie made with ground almonds.  In 1890 the pâtissier Lasne re-visited an old recipe from the 17th century for a small oval cake called visitandines (called after the religious order of sisters who created the cake), using the same ingredients but changing the shape. As his shop was situated in the financial district in Paris and almost all his clients worked there, he called his cake a “financier” and gave it the shape of a gold bar.

Financiers are light and spongey and are a perfect accompaniment for afternoon tea. I have added raspberries to the recipe but you can make them without or juggle around with other flavours!

They are traditionally rectangular shape but if you don’t have this type of tin you can use a mini-muffin tin or a small bun tin instead.

Ingredients :

• 140g icing sugar
• 125g ground almonds
• 50g flour
• 150g butter (beurre noisette)
• 3 egg whites
• Raspberries
• Salt

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Make a “beurre noisette” by melting the butter over a low heat until it turns golden brown (and gives off a nutty aroma hence the name) and leave to cool
3. In a bowl mix the sugar, flour, ground almonds and a pinch of salt
4. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat to a soft peak
5. Fold the egg whites into the dry ingredients
6. Mix in the cooled, melted butter
7. Spoon the mixture into the financier tin and place 2 or 3 raspberries on top, pressing down slightly
8. Bake in oven for 15 minutes

The quatre-quarts is a classic recipe from the french repertoire. Directly translated into english it means “four-quarters”. It originated in Brittany and its name comes from the fact that it is made up of 4 ingredients in equal quantities, each representing a quarter of the cake.

This is the traditional quatre-quarts recipe but you can then add different flavours etc – lemon, vanilla, apples

Ingredients :

• 4 eggs
• Same weight in flour
• Same weight in sugar
• Same weight in salted butter
• I heaped teaspoon of baking powder

Method :

1. Crack your eggs into a bowl and weigh them. 4 eggs weighs around 180g – 200g.
2. Use the weight of your eggs and weigh the exact same amount of flour, butter and sugar.
3. Melt butter and allow to cool
4. Beat the eggs with the sugar
5. In another bowl mix the flour and baking powder
6. Make a well in the flour and pour in the egg and sugar mixture and beat gently with a whisk
7. Add the melted butter and mix well
8. Pour batter into a greased loaf tin and bake for 50 minutes

Another simple, easy to make cake that is a tried and tested goûter time staple here 🙂

Ingredients :

• 4 eggs
• 180g sugar
• 120g flour
• 150g salted butter melted (if you use unsalted add a good pinch of salt to the ingredients)
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 100g grated coconut

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Beat the eggs with the sugar
3. Add the other flour, baking powder and melted butter and mix well with a whisk
4. Mix in the coconut
5. Pour into greased cake tin and bake in oven for 25-30 minutes

Gratin dauphinois is a traditional french dish that may be eaten as a side dish or as a meal in itself.  It originates in the south-east of France, in a region that used to be called the Dauphinois – which today is in and around Grenoble.

This is the traditional recipe, lots of variants exist, namely that of adding grated cheese (gruyere or emmenthal etc) but once you have added cheese it is no longer a gratin dauphinois! It becomes a simple ‘gratin de pomme de terre’ or ‘potato gratin’!

Ingredients :

• 1.5kg waxy potatoes
• Butter
• 1 clove of garlic
• 50cl double cream
• 50cl milk
• Salt & Pepper
• Nutmeg
• 1 laurel leaf and 1 sprig of thyme (or a bouquet garnie)

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven at 160°C
2. Peel and rinse potatoes.
3. Slice potatoes finely – a mandoline is great for this, just be careful of your fingers 😉
4. Do not wash potatoes after slicing – otherwise you’ll wash off the starch!
5. Heat the milk in a saucepan with the laurel leaf and thyme (or bouquet garnie) and season with salt and pepper
6. Bring to the boil and add sliced potatoes, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes mixing regularly (to avoid the potatoes sticking to the bottom of the pan)
7. Halve the clove of garlic and rub it round the inside of an oven dish and then rub the dish with a little butter
8. Remove the laurel & thyme from the pan and pour the milk and potatoes into the oven dish
9. Pour the cream over the potatoes
10. Put a few knobs of butter on top of the dish
11. Bake in the oven at 160°C for 1h30

There is nothing nicer than a good old apple tart – plenty of apples around this time of year and as per usual this is a very simple recipe with a minimum of ingredients but with a great result!

The main difference between apples in France and in Ireland and the UK is that cooking apples don’t exist – eating apples are used which I prefer anyway as you don’t need to add any (or very little) sugar that way.

Ingredients :

• 1 short-cut pastry
• 4-6 eating apples
• Vanilla Sugar
• Butter

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Chop 2 apples into small cubes and place in a saucepan with approximately 2 tablespoons of water
3. Leave to simmer until the apple softens and then mash or use a hand mixer to make a compote
4. Roll out pastry into your tart tin and prick the base with a fork
5. Spread the compote onto the tart base
6. Peel, core and cut your apples into quarters and then slice each quarter3 or 4 times
7. Place the apple slices on the compote, arranging them around in a circle – or anyway you like!
8. Sprinkle some vanilla sugar over the apples and add 3 or 4 small knobs of butter
9. Bake in oven for 30 minutes
10. Enjoy on its own or with some freshly whipped cream or ice-cream