Coffee and Walnut Financiers

To celebrate an achievement among Dr. S’ colleagues, we hosted a dessert party on the weekend. We provided sparkling wine, a small cheese board, and three desserts. One of them was these cake-cookies, rich with the flavour of coffee, and enjoyed by both young and old.

The recipe comes from the dessert book by Ottolenghi and Goh. My wife, daughter, and I teamed up to make the desserts. Dr. S made the batter, and said that she thought it was classic Ottolenghi: fussy (browned butter, chopped toasted walnuts, chilled batter) but usually worth the effort.

My contribution to the financiers was portioning them into mini muffin tins that we buttered and floured first. These stuck somewhat to the molds, so we used pan spray for the next batch, and they came right out.

Icing these financiers was my daughter’s job. She was particularly impressed by how a few drops of milk were able to turn a slightly dried out bowl of icing back into something pourable. Dusting these cookies with instant espresso powder was another task she enjoyed doing.

I, along with everyone else, loved the flavour of these financiers. They are a perfect size to consume in two bites, and the coffee flavour was quite pronounced. The icing is, well, the icing on the cake! Would definitely make these again.