Apple Friands with Ricotta
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These Apple Friands are deliciously soft and light, filled with lemony ricotta and caramelised cinnamon apples. These little cakes are moist, packed with flavour and an absolute treat.
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A friand recipe is ideal if you have leftover egg whites. Simply by whisking them into soft peaks and folding them into almond meal, icing sugar and melted butter you will achieve soft, tender little cakes which are perfect for afternoon tea.
Friands (also known as Financiers) originate from France but are also popular in Australia and New Zealand. They are usually a quick and easy recipe. This one takes a little time as there are an extra couple of steps involved in caramelising the apple pieces and mixing up the lemon ricotta. However, it is totally worth it as the creamy ricotta pairs perfectly with the buttery apple topping, making this a very simple bake but one that feels luxurious and delicate.
Why you'll love this recipe
- These apple friands are extra special from the teaspoonful of lemony sweetened ricotta which is dropped into the finished friand batter.
- The garnishing of cinnamon spiked buttery apple pieces which are placed on top just before they go into the oven which caramelise into apple heaven.
- You can make this recipe in either a special friand pan or just muffin tins.
- This is a gluten-free friand recipe that works with any brand of gluten-free flour (plain flour also works) and needs no xanthan gum.
Gluten-free friands
Making gluten-free friands is an easy switch. Simply swap the plain flour for any brand of all-purpose gluten-free flour. This recipe has been tested with Doves Plain White Gluten-Free Flour and also my Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend to great success and with no need for extra xanthan gum. This easy switch works because there is so little flour in the recipe, most of the work for the structure and texture of these little cakes are done by the ground almonds. The flour is simply included for lightening up the proceedings.
Ingredients needed
- Apples. This recipe works beautifully with granny smiths or even a bramley apple
- Butter. Unsalted is the best choice here. Make sure it is at room temperature.
- Icing sugar. (powdered sugar).
- Ricotta. The ricotta stuffed into this apple friand gives an exceptional taste and lovely texture.
- Lemon. Used to flavour the ricotta stuffing. Make sure it is unwaxed and organic otherwise you need to scrub off the wax.
- Vanilla extract. Use a good quality extract, I like Nilsen Massey.
- Ground almonds. Almond meal works well too, but the results may be a little more nutty in texture. See this article for the difference >>> The Ultimate Guide to Nut flours.
- All-purpose gluten-free flour. Your favourite brand will work well here. This recipe has been tested with Doves and with my Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend.
- Egg whites. This recipe uses the whites from 6 medium eggs which is 180g.
- Spices. Ground cinnamon and nutmeg are used to beautifully flavour these apple friands.
- Salt. I like to use kosher salt in my baking as it has a round gentle flavour. Using salt in your baked goods lifts and sharpens all the other flavours.
How to make apple friands
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add icing sugar, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice. Add apple pieces and fry for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
- In a small bowl, mix ricotta, vanilla, lemon zest, and 1 tablespoon icing sugar until smooth. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4/350°F. Butter a 12-hole friand tin or muffin pan.
- In a large bowl mix ground almonds, gluten-free flour, icing sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together.
- In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites for 25-30 seconds with an electric whisk or by hand until light and foamy.
- Fold egg whites into the almond mixture along with melted butter.
- Divide batter between friand moulds, top with a spoonful of ricotta mixture, and add a few apple pieces to the tops of the friands.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, then remove from the oven. Let cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Dust with icing sugar.
FAQs
I love this heavy duty friand tin as it turns out theses little gluten-free apple almond cakes beautifully and is the one I use all the time in my kitchen.
Friands store very well at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
You can freeze these gluten-free friands by flash freezing them in a single layer on a baking tray for 8 hours. Once frozen transfer them all to a ziplock bag. You can then defrost one at a time. Allow to defrost completely at room temperature before serving.
To make dairy-free friands then skip the ricotta filling. The swap the butter in the rest of the recipe for melted coconut oil.
More friand recipes
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Apple Friands with Ricotta
Ingredients
Caramelised apples
- 3 apples - peeled, cored and diced
- 2 tablespoons butter - unsalted
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar - powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- squeeze of lemon juice
Ricotta stuffing
- 160 g ricotta
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
Friands
- 240 g icing sugar - powdered sugar
- 160 g ground almonds
- 100 g gluten-free flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 200 g butter - unsalted, melted, cooled
- 180 g egg whites - about 6 medium sized
Instructions
Caramelised apples
- Melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan then add the icing sugar, cinnamon, salt and lemon juice and tip in the apple pieces.
- Fry for about 5 minutes, then remove from heat just before the apples turn soft and leave to cool.
Ricotta stuffing
- Mix the ricotta with the vanilla, lemon zest and 1 tablespoon icing sugar in a small bowl until smooth and set aside.
Friands
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan assisted oven / gas mark 4 and butter a 12 hole friand tin (or muffin tin).
- Mix the ground almonds with the flour, icing sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a separate bowl.
- Whisk egg whites in another bowl until light and foamy.
- Fold the egg whites into the almonds followed by the cooled melted butter.
- Divide the batter between the friand moulds, then top with a spoonful of ricotta mixture. Finally add a few apple pieces to the top of each one.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes then turn out and finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Dust with icing sugar.
Question, can you use muffin tins instead if you don't have the special pan?
Yes you can!
Hi Georgina,
Just wondering if you can please help with this recipe. In the ingredients list you have 2 teasp cinnamon & 1/4 teasp nutmeg. For the batter you say to add 1/2 teasp of cinnamon & no mention of when to add the nutmeg. Just wondering firstly if the cinnamon amount is just a typo & if the nutmeg goes into the batter?
Just want to clarify, your help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks & kind regards
Bernie
Apologies that it took me a couple of days to reply but it had been a while since I made this recipe so I have re-tested it and the 1/2 teaspoon is correct despite the 2 teaspoons in the ingredients list. This has now been amended and I have included the nutmeg. I also have clarified the instructions to make it all read a lot easier. I hope this helped and thank you for your query.
I live in the US and we don't have Dove's GF Flour here. I just looked it up and all I can find is a self-raising flour blend. Just want to clarify before I make these (they look amazing!!!!), do you use self-raising flour or a flour without leavenings?
Thanks so much! Can't wait to give these a go (and sub another gf flour blend from the US).
Maureen
Hi Maureen, no I don't use self-raising flour as I like to control the raising agents myself. The recipe is quite forgiving in that you can use any gf flour blend in place of the Doves Farm, so you should be quite safe in picking an alternative blend, as long as it doesn't have raising agents or xanthan gum in it.
Awesome! Thanks so very much. Can’t wait to make these beauties!!
xx
Let me know how they go!!
These are delicious! Will definitely make them again.
That's great Vicki! Thank you so much for your feedback. I keep coming back to these again and again too.