For the pastry:
| 90g | unsalted butter |
| 90g | caster sugar |
| 3 medium | egg whites |
| 40g | plain flour |
| 40g | almond powder |
| 1/2 tsp | salt |
| dark rum | |
For the purée:
| 3 | opal, goldrush or cox apples |
| 75g | sugar |
| 40g | unsalted butter |
| 1/4 pod | vanilla, split |
| 50ml | cloudy apple juice |
For the crème:
| 75ml | crème fraîche |
| 15ml | double creme |
| 15g | icing sugar |
1. Put the butter in a heavy bottomed, saucepan over a medium heat. Without stirring allow the butter to first boil, then foam and finally settle down and quieten. The butter solids will stick to the bottom of the pan and caramelise into nutty little nuggets. Leave to cool.
2. With a whisk mix the egg whites and sugar in a bowl then incorporate the almond powder, sifted flour and the salt.
3. Scrape all of the cooled butter into the mix, including the toasty goodness in the bottom of the pan and whisk to incorporate.
4. Pour into buttered moulds – ingots, a muffin tin, ramekins – your choice.
5. Bake at 170c until golden and springy – about 10 minutes.
6. Turn out of the moulds and while still hot drench with plenty of dark rum.
For the purée:
1. Peel and dice the apples
2. Melt the sugar with just a splash of water in a heavy bottomed frying pan until a light caramel. Carefully add the apples, the butter and the vanilla, seeds scraped out. Cook over a medium heat, stirring, until coated and softened. Add the apple juice, take off the heat and keep warm.
3. Blitz half of the apples with the liquid in a blender until very smooth (add another dash of juice to help it go around if needs be)
For the crème:
1. Whisk the crème fraîche, double cream and icing sugar vigorously until smooth and glossy.
2. Serve the financiers still warm with a little of the apple compote, the whipped crème fraîche and the butterscotch-apple purée