Orange blossom friands

I love friands. They’re like posh little muffins—almond-based, light and perfectly sized for when you want just a bit of something sweet. If you’ve made my raspberry friands before, you’ll know how easy they are to pull together—and how quickly they disappear.

This version omits the berries and adds orange blossom water, which gives them a soft floral note that’s fresh rather than flowery. Just add a little and suddenly they feel like something you’d find in a fancy pâtisserie, without the fuss. It’s the sort of ingredient that lifts a simple bake into something a bit special.

Serve them as they are or with honey syrup as suggested below.

Ingredients for 12:

6 egg whites, at room temperature
185g unsalted butter, melted
2 TBSP honey
1 TBSP orange blossom water
120g ground almonds
240g icing sugar
75g plain flour
40g flaked almonds

For the honey syrup (optional):

2 TBSP honey
1 TBSP water
2 TBSP orange blossom water

Orange blossom friands on teal coloured ceramic platter

Orange blossom friands – here we go:

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced) and lightly grease a 12-hole friand tin (I use non-stick cooking spray for an even coating).
Whisk the egg whites lightly with fork until combined. Add melted butter, honey, orange blossom water and ground almonds. Sift in the icing sugar and flour and stir until combined.
Divide between the 12 holes of the tin & sprinkle with flaked almonds.
25-30min (until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean).
Remove from oven, leave them in the tin for 5min, then tip them out onto a wire rack.
Combine honey, water and orange blossom water in small bowl, drizzle over friands and serve.

Orange blossom friands baking notes:

No friand tin – no problem! Just use a muffin tin and don’t fill the holes all the way to the top as they tend to be larger. Friands meant to be smaller and daintier than muffins.
The honey syrup is an optional extra, but a lovely one. The friands aren’t overly sweet on their own and the syrup brings a hint more sweetness along with an extra hit of orange blossom flavour.

Original recipe: Australian Women’s Weekly Food

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