Hazelnut financiers

Last Friday I made one of my students cry. It was a one to one exam. I just told her that she had two minutes left to finish her presentation, and she started the "cry routine". 1) The eyes fill up with tears that multiple eyelid batting can't keep in check, 2) nasal mucus fluidifies abundanly, 3) general redness spreads on face and chest, 4) the student should look like it's about to eject from its seat.

The next thing you know, the Niagara is sitting in your classroom.

Oh, she had soooo many things to say (ahah, prove it!), and her English was soooo bad (interior nod) and she would neeeever manage (high five!)

Honestly I was so tired I couldn't have cared less. I didn't even have a tissue to offer, and I really had to fake sympathy. Not to mention that she had stopped crying after a while and started the correlate to the "cry routine", the "puppydog eye routine". That's the moment when they expect you to tell them how brilliant they are. Except I pride myself on a high turnover which allows me to do exams for three hours in a row, then leave ("retreat dehydrated and starved" would probably be more accurate). So I had one eye fixed on my watch, evaluating how long I would have to fake sympathy before I could throw her out. And the little wretch (la petite emmerdeuse) had already made me late by two minutes. I know what you think. Intolerable.

Yes, I am a monster.

Anyhow, today nobody cried. Hooray! (champagne!) After a couple of weetabixes proofed with honey (top tip for lasting crunch, guys)  and restored blood sugar, I grabbed my fantastibulous spanking new Dehillerin friand pans (mes moules à friands flambant neufs fantastibuleux de chez Dehillerin) and made hazelnut financiers. The smell, my friends, the smell in my 17 square meter pantry of a flat was to die for. Honest (juré craché). Ah, suddenly the little ungrateful bastards faded away in wafts of toasted hazelnut and browned butter.

To the point, to the point.

3 egg whites
145g icing sugar
100g butter
30g flour
40g almond powder
40g hazelnul powder
a fat pinch of salt, unless using salted butter.

Toast the almond and hazelnut powder in a pan (I get a kick from toasting stuff), then mix with flour, salt and icing sugar in a bowl.

Add the three egg whites and combine with a rubber spatula until homogeneous. A spoon will do too.

Still cooking on board the Entreprise.

Heat the butter in a pan until it browns and strain off all burnt off protein. Add to the mix and combine.
Fill up your cute pans, but not to the top as they rise a little. Lick the bowl. Better than cookie dough.

Stop being so cute, mini pans.

Bake for 5 minutes at 240°C, then turn heat down to 200°C and bake for an extra 7 to 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them, but more importantly, keep sniffing. You will know when they're done, I swear. Make sure the outside is nice and brown - the center will remain pale. Get them out, run a palette knife on the sides, and pop them out. Set to cool on a rack. Eat.

What, teaching, students? Shhhhhhhhhh.

Fancy a sneak-peek?

Non, "childs" n'est pas le pluriel de "child", merde! Ca fait quinze fois que je vous le dis, faites un effort.

Comments

[Sam]

Haha, very funny post. I imagine dealing with students and their emotions must be extremely frustrating! Your financiers look to die for.

[Claude-Olivier]

héhé, bon je vais te laisser un commentaire en français car sinon je risquerais de finir dans ton financier comme le propose Zenchef ;-) Sympa ton billet, et bonne description du processus lacrymal lol!

[Colloquialcook]

Hey, cool motto. You should be a teacher, clearly you have as much patience as I do.
As for incorporating students in financier batter, yes, that's clever recycling. But don't forget to beat them up with a tenderizer beforehand to get rid of their inherent stringiness.

[Zenchef]

I think you deserve a hug. :-)
Next time take the student, dip it in financier batter and bake it for 25 minutes at 200'C. Increase the amount of flour to compensate for the moisture of the tears otherwise knock the little bastard unconscious before starting. If you can't beat them, bake them. That's my motto.