Glutenfree strawberry friands

Ready in 45mins

Serves 810

11⁄2 cups icing sugar, plus extra to dust

1⁄2 cup rice flour or plain flour

1 cup ground almonds finely grated zest of 1 lemon

5 egg whites

180g butter, melted and cooled sliced strawberries or other seasonal fruit, plus extra to serve (optional)

1 cup creme fraiche, to serve (optional)

Preheat oven to 160degC fanbake and grease 810 muffin or friand pans.

Place icing sugar in a mixing bowl, add rice flour and ground almonds and stir to combine, flattening out any lumps in the icing sugar with the back of a spoon. Make a well in the centre, add lemon zest, egg whites and melted butter and stir until evenly combined.

Divide mixture between prepared tins and top each with half a sliced strawberry. Bake until golden brown and set (2530 minutes). Allow to stand in tins for 5 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool. Dust with extra icing sugar and serve with creme fraiche and extra strawberries if desired.

Annabel says: With a fancy French name like friands, you might imagine these would fall into the ‘‘too hard’’ basket. But they are possibly the simplest thing you’ll ever bake — no mixer needed, just a bowl and a spoon. I like to grind my own almonds with the skins on, as they have loads more flavour — just blitz them to a fine, sandy texture in a food processor. But you can use storebought ground almonds if you prefer. I’ve made this recipe gluten free, but it works just as well with plain flour instead of rice flour if you aren’t worried about gluten. Use whatever seasonal fruit you have at hand to go on the top.

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