Flourless Pecan Vanilla Mini Cakes

I found a recipe for Walnut mini cakes over at La Tartine Gourmande a long time ago, and have had it among my del.icio.us bookmarks ever since. I finally had the time and occasion to use it today! However, I didn't have walnuts. I did have pecans though, so I used that. And where Béa used cane sugar, I used home made vanilla sugar. (Which you can easily make by combining sugar with a few vanilla beans in a jar - just refill the sugar as you use it.) Very, very yum. These are tiny little things - I used my mini muffin pan for baking - and they were great with a cup of coffee. Not really cupcakes, not really muffins, but small flourless nutty wonders. Do try them! Perfect if you're gluten intolerant, too.

Flourless Pecan Vanilla Mini Cakes
Makes 35 tiny cakes

280 g pecans (or walnuts)
75 g powdered sugar
100 g butter, at room temperature
pinch of flaky sea salt
6 egg whites (divided)
40 g homemade vanilla sugar

Mix the pecans in a food processor with the powdered sugar until medium coarse. Mix with the butter and two of the eggwhites until you have a stiff, sticky batter. Add the salt.

Beat the remaining four egg whites until quite stiff. Add the vanilla sugar, a little at a time, and beat until you have a glossy, thick meringue. Fold in with the other batter.

Dollop into mini muffin cups, and bake at 175°C for about 10 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Mjuka kakor med pecannötter och vanilj