Coffee Hazelnut Friands & why I've been MIA for so long

Hi!

I'm sorry that I've been away for more than a year.
Last year, I thought I wanted to be blogging again, but some health issues came up.

After I blogged about the Chocolate Ombre Cake, I went to Vietnam with my friend for few days. It was a tiring trip and I had trouble sleeping. And when I came back, there was more travelling with the kids, my body ended up exhausted. Two days after reaching home (finally), I fetched my mom for her medical appointment, and as I was driving home, the pain came.... simply put it as, my fourth time going into active labour. Yes, it was that type of pain, as if I was labour induced. Stopped my car beside the road and called my brother, who was the nearest one to me at that moment. I couldn't breathe whenever the pain came, you know, like when the strongest contractions come?
I was rushed to the hospital. I lost my ability to stand for the next few days because my spine flared up very badly. A month later, I flared up again. Anyway, cut the story short, it took me two hospitalizations to finally got diagnosed as having Spinal Osteoathritis. Couldn't stand for long, couldn't carry my handbag anymore, couldn't walk for long, .... took me one year of resting to be actively back in the kitchen. I started cooking again a month after my second hospitalization. But it was all simple meals, that I needed a few rests in between.

I thank God that I could stand and walk again, and it's a blessing to be able to do that. Actually it's not really a big issue, but when I was bed ridden, I realized that being able to stand each day, is really a blessing, His grace.

Here's one of the new recipes that I've done, before I went to Vietnam. It's on Youtube, just that I've haven't sit down and get it done on my blog. I was still able to do things with my phone on the bed, but to blog, I have to sit at my table with my laptop.

Lovely tiny rich nutty cakes. Friands tends to be quite sweet, and when made with coffee in it, the sweetness will be greatly offset, and it’s just nice for me.
Keep them (airtight) overnight and they turn so tender and fragrant.

I used instant Nescafé. You can use other brands of instant coffee that doesn’t contain any sugar or creamer.You can change to any type of nut meal, but you can’t substitute the amount with flour. It’s ok if you don’t want to use soft brown sugar. Just substitute the amount with icing sugar (100g+100g). I do not suggest for any sugar reduction, as the Friand might end up dry.
These friands taste better the next day. It softens and becomes very tender without being fragile.

Coffee Hazelnut Friands

Created by WendyinKK
Makes 24 mini friands and a few muffin sized ones


185g salted butter
1 Tbsp instant coffee
180ml egg white ( from 5 Grade A eggs , 63-65g shells on)
100g ground hazelnuts
100g soft brown sugar
75g plain flour
100g icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
More butter for greasing the pan

Quick Instructions
1. Melt butter with Instant Coffee. Cool down.
2. Whisk egg whites until frothy.
3. Mill brown sugar with some of the flour until fine.
4. Combine all the dry ingredients. Make a well.
5. Pour all wet ingredients into the well and combine.
6. Put batter into a 24 hole buttered mini muffin pan.
7. Bake in preheated oven 200C/180C (fan) for 13 minutes or until done.

🌰Baking time:
Mini muffin pan (full) : 13 mins
Muffin pans (half) : 17 mins
Muffins pans (full) : 25 mins

For visual instructions, please watch the video below