Financiers

The other day Rosanne asked me,
"What is a financier? I bought a 'financier' thinking it was a madeleine since it was oval shaped. Pas de tout. 
Normalement a true financier is shaped like a mini gold brick.
All of about 3" long, full of luscious browned butter(beurre noissete). Plus almond powder and baked in rectangular pans.

I don't know why they had to change the design?

The little tea cakes were first made in a pastry shop near the Place de Bourse 75002 - i.e. the Wall Street of Paris.

I've never seen pans this shape, yet the recipe is in their book.

The financier can come in many flavors. Mariage Freres serves a mean Matcha cake (on the left) at tea time.

 Pierre Herme only makes big rectangular cakes. He says,

“Les cakes me replongent toujours dans des souvenirs d’enfance. D’apparence parfois simple, ils se révèlent à la découpe, moelleux, denses et souvent truffés de surprises savoureuses et croquantes.”

'Cake always takes me backto childhood memories. The appearence is simple, they reveal themselves in the cutting,soft , dense, often filled wiht surprises savory and crusty-crunchy'.

You can watch one of many financier demos at L'Atelier des Chefs.

The best possible info on the best financier in Paris is at Le Figaro naturalement and their list of Paris' 10 best. A la prochaine/next time I'll taste test and give you the lowdown PBers.

Yesterday I went looking for other financiers to taste but Bouchon has none and Financier Pastries was sold out except for a minis pack and I don't trust myself to eat just one.

I might as well just buy a pound of butter and start munching.

BONJOUR FINANCIERS!