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    Home » Cakes

    Published on: April 24, 2012 by Janice Lawandi; Updated on: April 12, 2023 5 Comments

    Pistachio financiers

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    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    Pistachio financiers served on pink plates. Text overlay reads "Pistachio financier cakes".

    Learn how to make pistachio financiers with this easy recipe! These little pistachio cakes are made with ground pistachios and brown butter. This recipe includes a gluten-free option.

    Pistachio financiers served on pink plates. Text overlay reads "Pistachio financier cakes".
    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    You have to try these pistachio financiers. Traditionally, financiers are little nut-based cakes, made with ground almonds, sugar, brown butter, and egg whites, and baked in small rectangular moulds that resemble bars of gold.

    They are actually very simple to make, with a short list of ingredients, and the mixing method is pretty forgiving. These cakes are sweet, moist, and slightly chewy, and I bet you can't eat just one. Spoiler alert: I can easily eat 6 in the span of minutes. They are THAT good!

    Jump to:
    • What you need to make pistachio financiers
    • Substitutions
    • Variations
    • Improving the colour
    • Special equipment and pan prep
    • Step-by-step to make French tea cakes at home
    • Storage
    • Other financier recipes to try
    • Frequently asked questions
    • 📖 Recipe
    Ingredients to make the best pistachio financiers, measured out and ready to be mixed.

    What you need to make pistachio financiers

    • pistachios—I bake these with shelled unsalted pistachios from Nuts.com. For the chopped green pistachio garnish, I used some young slivered green pistachios from a store that sells Mediterranean food imports.
    • butter—I baked this recipe with unsalted butter and then added my own salt to the batter for these cakes. If you use salted butter, you might want to skip the salt to avoid these pistachio cakes being too salty!
    • flour—I used bleached all-purpose flour, but unbleached will also work fine. You can also use alternative flour, like chestnut flour and white rice flour. Even millet or sorghum should work well here.
    • sugar—pistachio is a delicate flavour so I baked these with granulated sugar, though brown sugar can work here, but the flavour and colour will overpower the nuts.
    • salt—I use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, which is less salty. If you are using table salt, you may halve the amount in the recipe
    • egg whites—I bake with large eggs, so each egg white weighs 30 grams (approximately) and it takes about 4 eggs to get to the weight needed (or darn close!). If you bake with smaller eggs, you will need to crack open more eggs to get to the weight of egg whites to make this recipe

    See recipe card for quantities.

    Substitutions

    • Almond—replace the ground pistachio with ground almond or almond flour for an almond version. You can also enhance the almond flavour with a few drops of almond extract (remember it's potent and a little goes a long way!)
    • Coconut—replace the ground pistachio with the same weight of coconut. You will have to grind it in a food processor to avoid textural issues.
    • Egg whites—you can either crack eggs and separate the whites to use in this recipe or use boxed pasteurized egg whites, which will work great in this recipe.

    Variations

    • Gluten-free—I learned from the Tartine Gourmande cookbook that you can make gluten-free financiers, replacing the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour, such as white rice flour. I have tested it and it works quite well! These chestnut financiers are another example of using an alternative gluten-free flour that works perfectly (in that case, it was chestnut flour).
    How to peel pistachios

    Improving the colour

    If you want to make greener pistachio financiers, try to peel the pistachios first to remove the dark black or brown papery skin that covers the individual nuts. Also make sure to buy greener pistachios, which are picked younger when they are a deep, dark green colour. As pistachios age, the green fades to a golden yellow.

    Special equipment and pan prep

    Many pastry chefs prefer to bake financiers in silicone pans to guarantee that they don't stick. They brush the moulds with a little softened butter to ensure the little cakes don't stick. Unmoulding from silicone bakeware is easy because silicone is naturally quite non-stick and it's also pliable so that you can easily push the cakes out of the pan.

    Buttering the wells of a mini muffin pan with softened butter and a butter wrapper.
    A greased mini muffin pan. The wells were greased with softened butter to coat the bottom and sides.

    Financiers can also be baked in any metal muffin pan or mini muffin pan. I bake these in a non-stick mini muffin pan that makes 24 mini financiers. Again, if the non-stick coating is not compromised or dulled, you should be able to get away with simply buttering the wells of the pan, but greasing and flouring will ensure that the cakes don't stick.

    A little flour is added to each well of a mini muffin pan to coat them in flour to prevent cakes and muffins from sticking to the pan.
    A greased and floured mini muffin pan ready to use for baking cakes and muffins without them sticking to the pan.

    Alternatively, you can bake this recipe in a regular cake pan to create one larger cake that you can slice. The batter should fit an 8x8-inch square pan or even a 9-inch round pan.

    Step-by-step to make French tea cakes at home

    Financier cakes might be the easiest cake you make. The longest part of the process is chilling the batter before baking.

    Most desserts with egg whites would have you make a meringue or whip the egg whites to stiff peak, then fold them into the dry mixture. Whipping the egg whites incorporates air and water, which is why egg whites are considered a leavening agent. But with financiers, all you have to do is whip the whites until they are frothy. It's faster and easier, and you still end up with a spongy, light texture!

    Butter sizzling in a pan to boil off the water and make brown butter.

    Before doing any of the other steps, start by melting the butter in a small saucepan.

    Browned butter in a saucepan.

    Continue cooking the melted butter until the milk solids begin to brown and release a delightful nutty aroma. Once this happens, take the brown butter off the heat and transfer it to a small bowl to cool before using.

    Whisking flour, sugar, and ground pistachio to make financiers.

    While the brown butter is cooling, prepare the other ingredients. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and ground pistachio.

    Whisking the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, and ground pistachio) to make financier batter.

    Make sure the dry ingredients are evenly mixed, then set the bowl aside to work on the egg whites.

    Egg whites in a bowl with salt to make whipping them by hand with a whisk easier

    Combine the egg whites and the salt. The salt will help you break up the globular egg white proteins.

    Egg whites whipped in a glass bowl with a whisk until foamy.

    Whip the egg whites until they are very frothy and thick.

    Whisking foamy egg whites into the dry mixture in a bowl to make pistachio financier cake batter.

    Transfer the frothy egg whites to the bowl of whisked dry ingredients.

    Thick pistachio financier batter in a glass bowl with a whisk.

    Whisk the two components together until they are incorporated.

    Adding brown butter to pistachio financier cake batter in a glass bowl with a whisk.

    Pour the cooled brown butter over the financiers batter and stir it in.

    A bowl of pistachio financier batter wrapped in plastic wrap before chilling in the refrigerator.

    Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to chill it for at least one hour until cold and firm.

    A greased mini muffin pan. The wells were greased with softened butter to coat the bottom and sides.

    While the financier batter is chilling, butter the pan with softened butter.

    A greased and floured mini muffin pan ready to use for baking cakes and muffins without them sticking to the pan.

    Dust it with flour, tapping out the excess if you are not baking with silicone and/or if you are worried your cakes will stick. Err on the side of caution if you aren't sure!

    Scooping pistachio financier batter into a greased and floured mini muffin pan before sprinkling the tops with chopped pistachios before baking.

    Divide the financiers batter between the wells of your mini muffin pan. Use a small ¾ ounce disher to make the job easy.

    Scooping pistachio financier batter into a greased and floured mini muffin pan and sprinkling the tops with chopped pistachios before baking.

    Garnish the pistachio financiers with a little coarsely chopped pistachio to decorate them before baking.

    Pistachio financiers before baking in a mini muffin pan.

    Bake the financiers at 350 °F.

    Pistachio financiers after baking in a mini muffin pan.

    Bake them until golden brown and set for about 16 minutes.

    Transferring freshly baked pistachio financiers from a mini muffin pan to a cooling rack using a mini offset spatula to lift them.

    Storage

    Financiers have the best texture a few hours after they are baked: these French tea cakes are slightly chewy and crunchy on the outside on the day they are baked and have a soft crumb inside. Store them in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in foil. The edges will lose their crunchy texture but will stay chewy for a day or two. The flavour improves with time.

    You can also freeze them. Unwrap and defrost overnight in the refrigerator to avoid any condensation or moisture build-up on the surface of the cakes.

    Pistachio financiers on a black cooling rack.

    Other financier recipes to try

    Financiers are very versatile and are a great canvas for playing with flavours and also for baking with fresh fruit:

    • incorporate shredded coconut and golden yellow kiwis to make these kiwi coconut financiers  
    • top them with summer berries like blueberries and raspberries to make berry financiers
    • make them with chestnut flour, yielding a sweet cake that is the perfect contrast for tart cranberries, like in these gluten-free cranberry chestnut financiers
    • incorporate tahini into the batter and kumquats, which are like miniature oranges to make sesame kumquat financiers 
    A pink plate with pistachio financiers.

    Frequently asked questions

    Why is it called a financier?

    Traditionally, financiers are baked in rectangular moulds that resemble gold bars. The word financier refers to this.

    How are financiers and madeleines different?

    The number one difference between financier cakes and madeleines is the mould they are baked in. Financiers traditionally are baked in small rectangular moulds (or sometimes round/oval moulds), while madeleines are baked in small seashell-shaped moulds. Financiers are made with nut flour (ground almond in the classic financier), while madeleines do not have any nuts and are often citrus flavoured. The classic madeleine is orange-flavoured.

    Mini pistachio tea cakes on pink plates, ready to be eaten.

    📖 Recipe

    A pink plate with pistachio financiers, one of them broken open to show the crumb.

    Pistachio Financiers

    AuthorAuthor : Janice Lawandi
    Learn how to make pistachio financiers with this easy recipe. These little pistachio cakes are made with ground pistachio and brown butter, which create a sweet, nutty tea cake!
    5 from 1 vote
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    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 20 minutes mins
    Cook Time 16 minutes mins
    Chill time 1 hour hr
    Total Time 1 hour hr 36 minutes mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine French
    Servings 24 mini cakes
    Calories 248 kcal

    Equipment

    • Mini processor
    • OXO balloon whisk
    • Mini muffin pan non-stick

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 115 grams unsalted butter
    • 90 grams shelled unsalted pistachios ground
    • 150 grams granulated sugar
    • 63 grams bleached all-purpose flour
    • 115 grams large egg white(s)
    • 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
    • slivered pistachios

    Instructions
     

    • In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and continue cooking it until it turns light brown in color. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the brown butter to a small bowl to cool down sllightly. Set aside.
    • Using a mini food processor or coffee grinder, grind the pistachios to form pistachio flour.
    • In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground pistachios, sugar, flour. Set aside.
    • In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites and salt. Whisk them until they are very frothy and foamy.
    • Pour the frothy egg whites over the dry ingredients. Whisk vigorously to mix everything together, then add the cooled brown butter and whisk the batter more to completely incorporate it.
    • Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the batter for at least 1 hour until firm.
    • Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 °C). Butter and flour a 24-cup mini muffin pan.
    • Divide the batter among the 24 wells of the prepared pan. Sprinkle the tops of the financiers with chopped slivered pistachios to garnish them.
    • Bake the pistachio financiers until the edges are golden brown and the centres are set. This takes about 16 minutes. Use a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of them to verify they are baked through. Let cool slightly before using a mini offset spatula to unmould them.

    Notes

    For a gluten-free option, replace the all-purpose flour with white rice flour or even millet or sorghum flour. I've also tested chestnut flour with great success! 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 248kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 5gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 100mgPotassium: 166mgFiber: 2gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 342IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 36mgIron: 1mg
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    Financiers cakes, one broken open to show the crumb laced with black poppy seeds
    A golden brown financier in green coloured muffin paper with a stack of muffin paper liners in the background and a few more financiers
    gluten-free financiers
    pistachio financiers
    pistachio financiers

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    Comments

    1. El says

      April 26, 2012 at 2:39 am

      They came out great. I love the book too. Hope all is well!

      Reply
    2. keka says

      April 25, 2012 at 4:27 pm

      Oh they were sooooo good! Whenever you make something like this again, please bring me some :PP

      Reply
    3. Cooking Rookie says

      April 24, 2012 at 11:19 pm

      Love the idea of making Financiers in muffin cups :-). So pretty. I would be curious to taste the pistachio version...

      Reply
    4. Steph says

      April 24, 2012 at 10:34 pm

      These are gorgeous!! I love pistachios!!

      Reply
    5. Kiri W. says

      April 24, 2012 at 4:46 pm

      Very pretty - they look so elegant! 🙂

      Reply

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