I was recently gifted two quarts of gorgeous blackberries by a sweet friend at work. These beauties were huge and juicy, and just begging to be made into a yummy pastry. With Father’s Day coming up, and blackberries being one of my husband’s favorite berries, I knew I needed to find a recipe worthy of these amazing berries.
When I was in St. Lucia many years ago, I ate little French pastries with blackberries every single morning. They were light and sweet and buttery. I haven’t had them since, but I still remember how they melted on my tongue and how they had just the right amount of lemon and almond flavors to compliment the sweet blackberries. I couldn’t remember what they were called, so I just started googling “blackberry cakes.” Turns out they are called “Blackberry Financiers,” because the original shape was similar to a gold bar, which is the exact shape I had them in St. Lucia.
Since I don’t have any cake pans in that shape, I had to put them in a muffin tin. I also had to adapt my recipe a little because of missing ingredients and I couldn’t find anything with lemon. I added lemon curd to one batch of pastries and added a drop of lemon essential oil to each cake in the second batch because I ran out of lemon curd. I am addicted to lemon curd and often eat it straight from the jar. If you have never tried it, you must run out and grab yourself a jar; it’s a staple in my fridge. I liked the cakes with the lemon curd the best, but they were all delicious. These are easy to whip up and quick, too. You can make them ahead and wrap them individually for an easy weekday breakfast on the go! Enjoy…Bon appetit!
Blackberry Breakfast Cakes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup sliced almonds
- 5 large egg whites
- 1/2 cup plus 5 TBSP butter
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 TBSP maple syrup
- 2 cups fresh blackberries, sliced in half
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 3-4 TBSP lemon curd, optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F degrees and prepare muffin tin with spray. Brown butter over medium heat until dark brown but not burnt. Place in a bowl and set aside to cool. Puree almonds in a blender or food processor until finely ground, then whisk in a large bowl with flour. Add powdered sugar and whisk until blended. Add egg whites, mix until smooth. Fold in maple syrup and browned butter. Fill muffin cups about half full with batter, place 3-4 blackberry halves on top, plus an almond slice. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of granulated sugar. Place on middle rack in oven and bake until brown. Allow to cool 5-10 minutes and then remove from pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve immediately or allow to cool and serve at room temperature.
