Chocolate and Hazelnut French Friands

I don't usually bake so many baked goods with chocolate, but in my defence most of the recipes I've been sharing lately are a combination of chocolate and another delicious ingredient. For instance, my last post of chocolate and coconut slice, or chocolate and sprinkle biscuits. This recipe follows the same pattern...Who can resist the heavenly combination of chocolate and hazelnut? The texture is denser compared to a regular French friand, but still delicious in its own right! As for indulgent icing, it would pair beautifully with regular chocolate cupcakes.

Ingredients for Friand
180g butter
1/4 cup plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder (I always use pure cocoa powder)
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup hazelnut meal
5 egg whites, lightly beaten

Ingredients for Nutella Icing
1/4 cup pouring cream
180g nutella spread
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Method
Preheat oven to 200 degrees (fan-forced) and generously grease your friand tray. Completely melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat; but do not brown at all! Set aside. Sift plain flour, cocoa powder, and icing sugar into a bowl. Mix together with a spoon. Fold hazelnut meal into this mixture. Add egg whites and butter with a fork, stiring quickly until mixture is just combined. Spoon mixture into friand pans and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 180 degrees (fan-forced) and bake for a further 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely. To make the icing, use the whisk attachment to smooth together the vanilla and nutella. Set aside. In a seperate bowl, pour the cream in. With the whisk attachment, whisk the cream for around 1-2 minutes until the cream is thickened and is stiffer. Gradually add the thickened cream to the nutella mixture, whisking slowly. Continue this until all the cream is mixed smoothly into the nutella. Ice friands generously with nutella.