Orange Curd Friands

Admittedly I did make these as a medium for the Seville orange curd, but they turned out so good I wanted them to have be included as a recipe in their own right. Orange curd may or may not be available in shops, but if you don't fancy making your own you could use lemon curd, just changing the zest in the batter to match. But making the curd is a good way to get some of the egg whites needed for the friand batter, or vice-versa. A bonus for me is that the addition of the curd means you need less of the batter, so you can use the leftover for the deep-fried version. I happened to choose the the tin with smaller moulds, just to have a little extra for this treat.

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter
6 medium egg whites
225g icing sugar
75g plain flour
125g ground almonds 
Finely grated zest of one large orange

12 tsp Orange curd

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C, putting in a baking sheet to warm. Melt the butter over a low heat. Using a pastry brush, generously brush a 12-bun muffin or friand tin with some of the butter. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are foamy. They don't have to form peaks, you just want them frothed up. Sieve over the icing sugar and plain flour and scatter over the almonds and orange zest. Fold them in with a spoon, then mix in the rest of the butter until it is completely combined into the batter. Spoon a little on the batter into each mould, just to cover the base. Place a teaspoon of curd in the centre, then divide the rest of the batter into the tins (you may have leftovers, see above. Place in the oven on top of the baking sheet. Cook for around 20 minutes until they are lightly browned on top. These are best eaten on the day they are made.