Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Financiers - Part 2 on Financiers by Chihiro Sweets Shop, Osaka

On to the last 2 flavours of premium gourmet financiers by Chihiro Sweets Shop. I covered the first 3 flavours (cultured butter, hazelnut and earl grey) in my first post here. Now I'll cover their Pistachio and Dark Chocolate Financiers. The Dark Chocolate Financier was wrapped in pink and the Pistachio was wrapped in green.

Once again, both of these flavours met the very high bar of financier quality set by the previous 3 flavours. The overall butter flavour was strong, they were very moist, and when lightly reheated in a small oven, the almond powder produced a light crisp crust that was perfect in texture. There was also a perfect balance of salt that enhanced the overall taste and prevented it from being too cloyingly sweet.

Pistachio Financier

For pistachio, the sweet vanilla-like fragrance seemed mild, possibly because it blended in with the overall butter and almond taste of the financier, in contrast to the hazelnut flavour which had a distinct dark and woody nut taste. But the creaminess of the pistachio did come through nicely and blended with the savoury aspect very well.

There was only one unmet expectation - the toasty nut fragrance was either missing or too mild. I looked at the ingredients and felt it could be because they used pistachio paste, which might have a milder flavour, in contrast to the hazelnut powder for the hazelnut version. I also notice that pistachio s the only one which used cornstarch. Perhaps they were struggling to get the texture right for this flavour and had to sacrifice some of the toasty pistachio taste. 

This is the ingredients list for reference. (Click the photo to enlarge.)

Nonetheless, this was based on my high bar set by the other flavours, and I still definitely preferred this pistachio financier overall compared to other premium financiers such as Henri Charpentier.

Dark Chocolate Financier

I had no complaints whatsoever for the dark chocolate flavour. It was everything I wanted - strong rich cocoa taste with a good dose of salt to complement the cocoa's umami. There was no bitterness to the cocoa taste, and the sweetness was also very subtle and perfectly balanced, so it came across as very rich and full without the cloying sweetness of fudge brownies. 

Texture-wise, it was also like a perfectly moist and soft pound cake with a hint of almond powder graininess. After light toasting, the slightly crisp crust was also perfect. 

This is absolutely my top recommendation for premium gourmet financiers, and I hope to try other flavours from the Singapore imports, or the next time I drop by Osaka.

Discover other Japanese gourmet snack makers:

• Financiers by Chihiro Sweets Shop Part 1: Cultured Butter, Hazelnut and Earl Grey Financiers
• Gateau Festa Harada
  Ruskology 101 - Original Butter Rusk and Hors d'oeuvre Rusk Sommelier by Gateau Festa Harada
  Leaf Pie
  Tigresse (almond powder cake with chocolate ganache)
  Maple Financier
• Traditional Gourmet Amashoyu Agesenbei by Ogura Sansou
• Butter and Matcha Castella Rusks by Minamoto Kitchoan
• Matcha, Original and Brown Sugar Castella Rusks by Quolofune
• Apple Baumkuchen by Juchheim
• Henri Charpentier's Assorted Pastries and Quolofune's Novotile
• The Leaf Pie Challenge Episode 1 - Rokumeikan vs Gateau Festa Harada
• Chocolate-coated Pie Pastry by Rokumeikan
• Mango lemon madeleine by Rokumeikan
• Sweet Potato and Chestnut Tarts by Foucher Paris