Mm, I haven't made friands for centuries. Maybe it's the thought of using six egg whites in one go ... So I saw this recipe the other day (on Facebook?) and decided I'd try it out. I love a Violet Crumble, probably even more than the (British) Crunchie bar. It's the original honeycomb bar, covered in chocolate, and is still made in Australia (after a hiatus of some years). 'They're big and they're crunchy', as the old saying goes, or not. (Google Bobo from the Fat Pizza tv show.)
I had to laugh when Mr P. told me he'd offered a 'freon' to our neighbour, Princess Pia. As you probably know, this is a tasteless, odourless gas used in refrigerants, and is well poisonous! I definitely didn't bake some of those :-) Princess P. suggested strongly that I make them again, as her house painter had eyed them off, and she felt obliged to give him one. I kindly gave her an extra one, so she didn't suffer. Chocolate soothes the savage breast, or is that beast? She's having her house lifted and renovated, and it is VERY stressful for her. Those darn tradies stomping their way around the house in their dust-ridden boots ...
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| tender, chocolatey, tasty morsels |
ingredients:
240g. (8.5 oz) icing sugar/powdered sugar
25g. (1oz) cocoa powder
120g. (4.2 oz) almond meal
75g. (2.6 oz) plain flour
185g. (6.5 oz) butter, melted and cooled
6 large egg-whites, lightly whisked with a fork or hand whisk till white and frothy
2 x 50g. (1.8 oz) Violet Crumble bars, chopped roughly (keep a dozen pieces to top the friands after baking if you wish)
icing sugar and cocoa powder for dusting
Method:
Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl
Whisk in the almond meal and plain flour
Make a well in the centre of the dry mix, pour in the butter, and add the egg whites
Whisk or stir till well combined
Add the pieces of Violet Crumble, and stir them in
Spoon (or pour from a jug) the batter into a well-greased 12-hole friand or muffin tin
Bake at 180C fan-forced, or 200C without the fan for about 15-20 minutes
Check with a skewer into its dark, chocolatey heart - if the skewer is clean, the friand is done
Let them cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then tip them out onto a wire rack
Dust with icing sugar and cocoa powder, and jam a piece of Violet Crumble into each friand if you feel so inclined
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| sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder together |
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| whisk the dry ingredients together |
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| bash your bars into pieces |
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| whisk the egg whites till frothy |
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| whisk in the egg whites |
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| stir in the choc bar pieces |
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| pour into the friand tin |
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| after 20 minutes at 180C fan forced |
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| dusted and ready to eat |
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| artwork © Sherry's Pickings |
I want one too!! I love friands and haven't baked a batch since long..not exactly a century, but seriously long. These look absolutely irresistible, Sherry. What can I use instead of crumble bars? Don't see them here...will something like chocolate bar with hazelnuts work? I guess you use natural cocoa powder, not dutch processed one?
ReplyDeletehi angie
Deletei'm not sure what other sorts of choc bars you can use here. i guess just about any one would work. if you can find some kind of choc covered honeycomb, you're in business:) I do use Dutch cocoa! i also have a black cocoa which is great.
Every time you post baked goods I wish I lived next door to you. I like cooking but hardly ever bake sweets, yet I crave them something awful.
ReplyDeleteooh yes it is nice to have home baked goods isn't it? come on down to my place:-)
DeleteInteresting recipe and delicious looking results.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side I just discovered I can find Violet Crumble bars at a grocery store near me right here in Alabama.
hi anne
Deletei am amazed you can buy violet crumbles in alabama or anywhere really. such an aussie icon!
I am very partial to a violet crumble - my dad loved them when we were kids so they are a sentimental favourite. And so nice to share them with your neighbours - I hope there is less stomping of dusty boots after the offer of a friand :-)
ReplyDeletehopefully the painter did an even better job:)
DeleteThose look delicious! Before we were locked down, I used to go to a store that had a lot of Australian sweets, including the bar that you had in the photo, though if I bought it I would have to eat it as is to learn all about it. That's also the store where I could get Tim Tams.
ReplyDeletebe well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
hi Mae
Deleteit's good to know aussie sweets are taking over the world:-)
PS -- I mentioned you in my post today.
Deletethanks so much Mae!
DeleteOh I love a Violet Crumble bar, haven't had one in ages, we sometimes buy them when we are travelling for some energy!! These look great Sherry, I should make some and use my friand tin. Terrific idea, thanks.My hubby would probably call them freons too hee,hee.
ReplyDeletewell 'freons' sounds right of course:-) that's basically how you say it, but he wrote it in a text. i had a good giggle!
DeleteI've never made a friand, although I've had them. Only a couple of time, though -- I don't often see them in US bakeries, although maybe haven't been paying attention. These look good -- thanks.
ReplyDeletethey were incredibly trendy here in cafes for a few years but it's rare to see them now. i'm thinking probably because of the high amount of egg whites that are needed, tho i bet they used frozen ones...
DeleteGosh I wish I was your neighbour - these look mighty fine! Growing up in the UK, I am of course a Crunchie girl, I'd never even seen a Violet Crumble until I came down under for the first time in 2002!Now I'm intrigued, what did you do with all the egg yolks?!
ReplyDeletewell thank you sammie! i do like a crunchie too. I made a frittata with the yolks, and threw in 2 whole eggs also. it was good.
DeleteThese look great! I have only made the more traditional raspberry and almond friands myself. These would be a big hit in our house too.
ReplyDeleteyes i had only made raspberry and lemon friands before but these were pretty fab.
DeleteI hate to admit this, but this is the first time I've heard of friands before. I'm intrigued! A quick google search tells me they are popular in Australia, so I guess that's why I haven't heard of them until now. I need to bake a batch - although bashing the candy bars to bits seems a little sad. Haha! These look fantastic, Sherry. And I'm sure Princess Pia loved them - having workmen in the house is always stressful.
ReplyDeleteyes i saw that on google too. popular in aust and NZ! who knew?! They did go down a treat.
DeleteWe still do have that as well in NZ, they are great with cakes too.
ReplyDeleteviolet crumbles do you mean?:)
DeleteWhat a wonderful ingredient to your friand mix - I used to love violet crumble bars so can only drool at what they taste like.
ReplyDeletethanks michaela. they went down splendidly in these friands.
Deleteyou've introduced me to something new. I've never had a friand. They look wonderful and your description and ingredients make them sound delicious.
ReplyDeleteyou will definitely have to have a friand MJ. they are very tasty!
DeleteA new candy bar and recipe for me!
ReplyDeletethat's great judi! always good to hear about new stuff:-)
DeleteI have never seen a Violet Crumble bar before! Looks like it is made by Cadbury, but only because of the color of the wrapper. I will have to see if anyone around here carries them (with or without the freon!!).
ReplyDeletethey're actually made by an aussie company - robernmenz I think it's called. But yes the wrapper is very 'cadbury'.
DeleteToo funny! I had never heard of a Violet Crumble until I watched (very recently) an episode of MasterChef Australia 2020 and Hayden made a fancy dessert based on the chocolate bar Velvet Crumble.
ReplyDeleteoh that is funny jackie. I will have to check out that episode if i can... cheers S
DeleteHaha I hadn't heard of freon but you definitely don't want to be giving that away! :D
ReplyDeleteyou are so right:) Freons are so not the way to go ...
Delete