Almond cakes = what to do with 5 extra egg whites

[kattyeyes]

I've been making gelato lately, which leaves me with 5 egg whites each time I make a batch. Last time we just used them up while cooking eggs. But I like this idea much better:

ALMOND CAKES

½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup ground, blanched almonds
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
5 egg whites
½ tsp. almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter and set aside. Combine ground almonds with sugar, flour and baking powder. Add egg whites and almond extract and stir. Add melted butter and stir. Spoon batter into 1-cup capacity muffin or popover tins.*

Bake for 25 minutes (see note) or till golden on top and toothpick comes out clean. Makes six cakes.

*I used oversized muffin tins to yield 4 almond cakes and needed to increase baking time about 10 minutes.

Optional glaze for almond cakes:
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
2 tbsps. milk

I skipped the glaze. These are very tasty little cakes on their own. I think they might be nice with a little chocolate sauce, however! :) And/or some of my gelato! It would actually go very nicely with the lavender vanilla batch I made last week.

[dmd_kc]

kattyeyes, how sweet does this turn out? It sounds like it might be really good for people who don't love things at the sweeter end of the spectrum.

[kattyeyes]

dmd_kc, not overly sweet at all--exactly. The nuttiness of the ground almonds shines through. The original recipe called for 2/3 cup of sugar more than I put in. Especially since I knew the ingredients were only divided among four treats, that seemed excessive. I already had to deal with the fact that each treat had a quarter of a stick of butter in it, but damn, they are good. Next time I will make them in a pan of 6 so there's less guilt per serving. ;)

[jsaimd]

Brown the butter and you have financier - a french tea cake - very tasty treats.

[kattyeyes]

AHA, so I see on Joy of Baking--how cool! I had never seen/heard of financiers before...nor have I ever seen the little fluted baking tins in the picture. Have you made them before?

http://www.joyofbaking.com/Financiers...

I learn something new every day here! :)

[jaykayen]

they actually used to be rectangularly shaped, for gold bars. any shape can be done, though.

[rememberme]

Yum, yum, yum! I'm gonna make those!

I would have just made merinques with the leftovers, with some ground almonds in them, and a little bit of vinegar to give them chew.

[cookie_eater]

I make meringues too, mine with brandy or cocoa powder. Marshmallow icing and mini angel food cakes are okay too. I've heard that they can be frozen individually and thawed, never tried it myself.

[MikeG]

You just stir in the egg whites without beating them?

[kattyeyes]

Yes. Pretty easy, huh? :) I ate half of one for breakfast. Am resisting eating the other half!

[Den]

Make macaroons.