DARING BAKERS: Tuilles

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda 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.

When I saw what this months challenge was, I was very excited. Tuilles (pronounced "twill" from what I understand) are something I have been wanting to make since I saw them on Tartelette's Opera Cake. I had never seen this type of cookie before or at least I didnt realize it. I was also glad to see it would tie in nicely with my daughters birthday cake.


I wasn't real inventive here, coming up with a shape, because I just love the ideas of butterflies. So I made a flower cake. If I had more time, instead of spending it all the gym, I would have made the petals out of cake. Instead I just made the petals out of paper. I topped the cake with the butterflies. The kids loved that they could eat the decoration on the cake, always a bonus for kids.


TUILLES

Following is a recipe taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck.

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

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces 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)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 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 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.

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….

I cut the tuille with cookie cutters as soon as they came out of the oven and put them back in the oven to crisp the up a little.

(I just couldn't resist.)

Go and visit the rest of the Daring Bakers for more ideas and a savory recipe as well. Click here for the blog roll.

Oh, the cake. You can find a recipe for it here. It is an excellent white cake. And the frosting. Well, I thought the frosting that went with it was kind of bland. So I added some lemon zest and a teaspoon or so of lemon juice with mascarpone and folded it into the Italian meringue. OMG. Yup, I loved it. But I guess any kind of dessert would taste stellar to a girl that hasn't really been eating any dessert.

Click this link to go to Bake My Day and this one to go to 1x Umruhren bitte. Thank you to both of you for an amazingly fun challenge.