Financiers are light almond sponge cakes with a crispy outer and soft centre - just the ticket with a cup of tea or coffee.

Traditionally they were made to resemble golden bricks, which is how they originally got their name.

For optimal flavour choose vividly coloured, ripe blueberries and make sure you cook the butter until golden brown.

Regular readers might have tried previous versions of these which I've featured - they're certainly a good trick to have up your sleeve and a skill that shows being a good cook is about more than creating sumptuous main courses or intricate desserts.

Blueberry financiers

Makes 14-16

225g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

80g plain flour

110g ground almonds

250g icing sugar

210g egg whites at room temperature

60g blueberries

Grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin and chill it in the fridge until required.

Add the butter to a small pan and heat gently until it starts to turn golden brown. As soon as it does, remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl then gently stir in the egg whites. Gradually stir in the warm butter until a smooth batter forms then cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Set the oven to 200C/gas mark 6 and spoon the batter into the chilled tin, filling each mould until it is three-quarters full. Drop a few blueberries into each mould.

Bake the financiers in the oven for 8-10 minutes until firm to the touch and golden, then leave to cool in the muffin tin for a few minutes. Once cool, transfer the baked financiers on to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.