Daring Bakers: A Whirlwind of Tuiles!

This month’s Daring Bakers Challenge is brought to us by two lovely bloggers, Karen at Bake My Day! and Zorra aka Kochtopf at 1x umrühren bitte. After the rich, but no doubt, comforting baked goodness of the holidays, they decided to go light and airy for the January challenge, with tuiles. The chosen recipes come directly from “The Chocolate Book” by Angélique Schmeink and “Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles” from Michel Roux. 

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. And of course the batter is sometimes called tulip-paste….

Here are the goals of the challenge:

-Use one of the batters

-Shape it either before baking using a stencil or immediately after it comes out of the oven

…….AND………

-Pair it with something light like a mousse, fruit, a glaze or sorbet…or anything else you can think of!

I stenciled a plumeria blossom on some flimsy cardboard to use as the guide for my blossom cup. It vaguely resembled the shape I was going for, but it also looked like it could pass for many other random objects as well! It’s ok, I ended up using it anyway! In keeping with the light and airy theme, I wanted to use fresh fruit as my main filling ingredient. I followed Angelique Schmeinck’s recipe, which is posted below, eliminating the cocoa from the batter and adding a dash of almond extract instead. To top it off, I added a spoonful of mango coulis to give it just a bit more juicy sweetness. 

Here are my Tropical Fruit Flowers….

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

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….

For the Mango Coulis:

1 cup of cubed fresh mango

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp lemon juice or other citrus

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Well, I had so much fun with this recipe that I couldn’t stop making tuiles! Here’s one more variation for you. I was dying to make cones because I love the shape and I thought they would be perfect with a pomegranate blueberry sorbet that I made the other day. The tuile cones are made with the same batter as the tropical fruit flowers above. I filled them with pomegrante blueberry sorbet, fresh pomegranate seeds and chopped pistachios.

 

Pomegranate Blueberry Sorbet

Adapted from Bon Appetit

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water, preferably spring water

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 pints (about 2 pounds or 6 cups) fresh-picked blueberries, preferably organic, rinsed and patted dry

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 large egg white, preferably farm-fresh (optional)

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, water, and salt. Cook, stirring, until the sugar and salt have dissolved, about 3 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes.

In a blender, purée the blueberries with the syrup and lemon juice until very smooth (you may need to divide this into several batches if your blender is not extra-large). If desired, strain through a fine-mesh sieve for a smoother texture. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

**Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Add the egg white, if using, during the last 2 to 3 minutes of churning. If making the ice cream cake , immediately pack into the pan. Or store, tightly covered, in the freezer.

**Variation: Blueberry-pomegranate sorbet:
Replace 1/4 cup of the water with pure pomegranate juice (we recommend either Pom Wonderful or Knudsen’s 100% Pomegranate Juice).

**I skipped this step because I do not have an ice cream maker. I just put my mixture directly into the freezer to chill. It was a little on the soft side but still really good!!!

**I also added the seeds of half a fresh pomegrante to the mixture.

The challenge was so much fun! I only wish I had more time to experiment with the chocolate and savory versions as well. Another handful of great recipes that I’ll be using over and over again! Thanks again to Karen and Zorra for hosting such a fun, fresh and delicious Daring Baker’s Challenge! Be sure to check out all the Daring Baker’s here!

Tagged as: daring bakers challenge january 2009, fresh fruit tuile, healthy desserts, light desserts, mango coulis, pomegrante blueberry sorbet, tuile