INGREDIENTS:

160g butter
100g plain flour
250g icing sugar, sifted
125g ground almonds
6 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup Christmas fruit mince (drained of any excess liquid)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C (not fan bake). Lightly grease a 12 cup friand tray.

Carefully melt the butter, being careful not to let it burn, then allow to cool to room temperature.

Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl, then stir in the ground almonds. Make sure these are well combined. 

Whisk egg whites until they're light and frothy. Then gently combine them with the flour/almond mixture. Add the cooled melted butter and vanilla extract and gently mix everything together.

Fill each friand tin until it's roughly 2/3rs full then top with a tsp of the mince.

Bake for around 20 mins or until the friands are cooked through. Allow to cool for a few minutes then remove from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold with a dusting of icing sugar.

This is a great base recipe - feel free to swap out the Christmas mince for raspberries, canned plums, lemon curd etc.