Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks at some point wrote that she treats her blog like an exercise book. A place where she can practice her craft, be it through trying out new recipe ideas or taking photographs without worrying too much about the outcome. And that approach immediately appealed to me – I guess it is similar to the idea that perfection is the enemy of good.
So here is a recipe that hasn’t been tested within an inch of its life. For Dorito Financiers. Are they perfectly delicious? You bet. Could the recipe be improved? Probably. I could have ground the Doritos more finely (but quite like the nutty texture these financiers have). I could have used a smidgen less sugar. And maybe added an extra pinch of salt. And I could have maybe dotted the surface of the financiers with a few blueberries – after all, corn and blueberries go together extremely well. But none of that matters in the grand scheme of things. Because these are already delicious the way they are. And after all, what I am trying to do here in my corner of the web is to simply share some ideas, to hopefully motivate someone to get in the kitchen, to look at their pantry in a new way and see opportunities for new flavour combinations, to play around with different ingredients and see what happens (hopefully something delicious),
Admittedly it was reading about Sarah Jampel’s Cheeze-Its apple bars that finally motivated me to try this out (I have a tendency to sit on new recipe ideas for far too long). And I am so glad I did. Crushed Doritos may soon become my favourite new thing to bake with. In part because it is extremely fun to butcher traditional recipes (like in this case the recipe for French financiers, dainty little cakes you might enjoy with your afternoon cup of tea or coffee) by making them with one of America’s favourite salty snacks. Aside from that, Doritos have this super intense corn flavour, which I adore. And so these financiers are almost like a sophisticated (and dessert appropriate) version of cornbread – corny but good ;-).
Now that I know what a strong corn flavour Doritos lend to baked goods, I cannot wait to experiment further. I am thinking a cornbread type loaf cake would be insanely delicious. Ideally served toasted and with a salted honey butter on the side. I also want to try baking Christina Tosi’s Corn Cookies with Doritos, substituting part of the flour and freeze dried corn mix with ground Doritos. Or even just regular chocolate chip cookies but made with ground Doritos.
And I know you are not meant to play with your food, but surely that doesn’t apply when the results are something extremely delicious to eat? Now tell me – have you ever baked something using salty snacks? Be it pretzel covered brownies or maybe potato chip studded chocolate chips? Or maybe something else entirely? I want to hear all about it!
Dorito Financiers – corny but good
Note: Using ground Doritos gives these financiers a really intense corn flavour. Think of these financiers like a sophisticated (and dessert appropriate) version of cornbread. Excellent alongside a strong cup of coffee (ideally black) I can also imagine these as part of a dessert plate, ideally with something fruity or slightly tart to offset their sweetness, e.g. with a scoop of sweetcorn and blueberry ripple ice cream, or maybe with a single scoop of blueberry sorbet, or maybe even as a decadent breakfast option so slightly toasted and served still warm with some burnt miso and honey butter?
Ingredients
2 egg whites
100g sugar
60g ground doritos
20g plain flour
75g melted butter
Pinch of salt
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease 6 financiers moulds (alternatively, use 6 medium-sized muffin moulds).
In a bowl whisk together the egg whites and sugar. Then fold in the ground doritos and flour. Lastly, add the melted butter and pinch of sold and whisk until well combined.
Distribute the batter evenly among the 6 moulds. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of one of the financiers comes out clean.
Leave to cool for a couple of minutes before carefully removing the financiers from their moulds. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Best eaten on the day they are made, these financiers will keep for 2-3 days. Store in an airtight container.
REAL SIMPLE FOOD 