Friand - a little French fancy, generally gluten-free, lightened by whisked egg white and given a background flavour of vanilla and almond. With the addition of berry fruit it will harbour a juicy fruit burst inside and be lovely to serve the mother-in-law for afternoon tea or, in this case, as a sweet little pudding. In hindsight I should have made my quantities bigger for they won’t last two minutes in most households... I have a 15 year old who would have them all sorted by himself, no problem.

Ingredients - makes about 9

150g Yeo Valley butter, melted and cooled
150g icing sugar
50g rice flour
100g Essential ground almond
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
handful of blueberries
golden caster sugar, optional
cake or muffin cases

mixed berries, knob of butter, icing sugar to taste
Riverford Organic Dairy clotted cream to serve

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180°C
Whisk the egg whites with the vanilla extract until light and fluffy - you need to stop before they reach soft peak stage so don’t get too carried away.

Place the icing sugar, rice flour and ground almond into a bowl and whisk briefly to mix and get rid of lumps and bumps. Make a well in the centre and pour in the cooled melted butter - stir vigorously to incorporate. Add in a large spoonful of the beaten egg white, stir well to slacken the mixture before adding the remaining egg white. Be gentle when stirring through the egg whites, do this with a flexible spatula.

Divide the mixture amongst the cases and then pop a few blueberries into each - not too many s- they will sink into the mixture. Sprinkle over with a little caster sugar if you like, it will give a crunchy crystal surface. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked through and golden. Touch in the centre and if springy they’re done. Allow the friands to cool in their cases before unmoulding.

Now place some frozen berries in a frying pan with a knob of butter, heat until they defrost and begin losing their juices, dredge with icing sugar to taste and serve a spoon of warm fruit sauce beside 1-2 friands topped with clotted cream.