Daring Bakers Challenge: Tuiles

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.

You may be wondering, as I did, what are tuiles. Traditionally, tuiles are thin, crisp almond cookies that are gently molded over a rolling pin or arched form while they are still warm. Once set, their shape resembles the curved French roofing tiles for which they’re named.

The Dutch angle: traditionally this batter was used to bake flat round cookies on 31st December, representing the year unfold. On New Years day however, the same batter was used but this day they were presented to well-wishers shaped as cigars and filled with whipped cream, symbolizing the New Year that’s about to roll on.

I was really excited to do this challenge, although I did procrastinate it until the last minute. I didn’t have any thin plastic mats to make a stencil from, so I just cut a circle out of a paper plate. I also took others’ advice and made one at a time directly on a silpat, and spread it as thinly as possible. It worked great!

I used Wilton glitter gel to decorate the tuiles. The only problem with that was it got really hot and you had to be very careful not to touch it when you were shaping the tuiles.

We were required to pair it with something light; fruit, sorbet, a mousse, or maybe even a fruit soup. The wonderful strawberry panna cotta I had the pleasure of eating on my trip to Italy immediately came to mind. I had been wanting to try to recreate it at home. I searched and found a wonderful recipe on epicurious and made a delicous strawberry sauce to go with it.

This dessert was over the top delicious! We all loved it and I was asked if I could make it again sometime. Visit the Daring Baker’s blogroll to see the amazingly creative tuiles other Daring Bakers created.

Tuiles
Yields: 6 large bowls

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

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

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 bakingsheet 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. (I baked them one at a time on a silpat without greasing or chilling and it worked great!)

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (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. 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. etc.

Panna Cotta
yield: Serves 8

Panna cotta, a molded chilled dessert popular throughout Italy, is easy to make and can be prepared in advance. It looks and tastes wonderful with ripe red fruits such as raspberries, strawberries, or sweet cherries.

1 envelope unflavored gelatin (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons cold water
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a very small saucepan sprinkle gelatin over water and let stand about 1 minute to soften. Heat gelatin mixture over low heat until gelatin is dissolved and remove pan from heat.

In a large saucepan bring cream, half and half, and sugar just to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring. Remove pan from heat and stir in gelatin mixture and vanilla. Divide cream mixture among eight 1/2-cup ramekins and cool to room temperature. Chill ramekins, covered, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Dip ramekins, 1 at a time, into a bowl of hot water 3 seconds. Run a thin knife around edge of each ramekin and invert ramekin onto center of a small plate.

Strawberry Sauce
12 oz. package frozen strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 T. cornstarch
2 T. fresh orange juice

Mix sugar and cornstarch. Combined all ingredients in a saucepan and heat on medium heat until strawberries thaw and sauce thickens. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature and then chill.

I did the calorie count for this dessert and for six servings it is 458 calories per serving. Which was less than I thought it would be.