Friday, January 30, 2009

Daring Bakers Challenge: Tuiles!

I've finally gotten my act together enough to do another Daring Bakers challenge. This month, it's tuiles, French for "tiles," since the feather-weight cookies are curved to look like roof tiles.

I dyed mine pink and used a heart stencil (see below).

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Recipe:
Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)
Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch.

¼ cup softened butter (not melted but soft)
½ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
½ cup sifted all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not over-mix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

That's my heart stencil, which I cut out of the plastic lid of a coffee can.
You paint the batter on very thinly with a metal, off-sided spatula.

I did have mine on some coconut sorbet, but, in the end,
the sorbet looked a bit off. . . like a lump of lard!
So, here they are, not as a garnish but as the main feature.
The squiggle I made with a sandwich bag, cut at a corner, for a piping bag.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

so cute! red and hearthy ;)

Julie said...

Cute cookies! I hope your coconut sorbet tasted better than it looked. ;) I'm sure it did!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Valemtine's Day is looming, and what an awesome treat those would be!

Anonymous said...

These look lovely! well done!

Jo said...

Very cute and well done. Also timely for Valentine's day too.

Unknown said...

I had the thought as I added green polka dot accents to my tuiles, why not color the whole batch? You did, and I love how it turned out. The hearts are perfect for the upcoming holiday.

vibi said...

Very, very nice... they look like rose petals! Delicate, fresh and very romantic!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

So cute! Great job!

Cheers,

Rosa

Lauren said...

Awwe, the hearts are adorable! Beautiful job!

Dragon said...

Pretty, pretty pink hearts. :) Great job with this month's challenge.

Anonymous said...

I love the hearts, I made some also, they were so fun!

Anonymous said...

Very cute :) I'm sure your coconut sorbet was wonderful though!

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

Hahahaha...I'm sorry your coconut sorbet looked like a lump of lard. :-)

It's good to see what your raw dough looked like so I can get a better idea of what the consistency *should* be...mine was SO thick! Can't figure out why. I also love the idea of using the coffee lid for your stencil...fabulous!

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said...

These are so pretty! I love the rose pink color.

Anonymous said...

LOVE the hearts!! so adorable :)