29.1.09

DB#27 or a French thing called Tuile!

chocolate tuiles

Trapped by a thing called... tuile! It's funny how you see meaning in stuff that obviously has none. I've been craving for French food and dreaming of Parisian places for a few weeks now, so when I read the Daring Bakers challenge for January, it put a smile on my face. Tuiles! Buttery almond crisp cookies that melt in your mouth and make the perfect edible containers for ice cream, mousse ou whipped cream. Or savoury cornets with seeds and creamy fillings. Or chocolate.

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.

I've meant to give it a try at all the recipes, specially the savoury one that looked really great to me, but life got in the way. This has been a crazy month with the usual fuss an end of a term always brings. I blame it on my bad schedule - just didn't manage to make the ice cream I have planned and the cute little flowers to serve it. I hope I can still complete the project some day... So no free day for baking, and shaping my tuiles. I was reading through the recipes, thinking if one of them could fit in one of my breaks when I stopped... 15 minutes recipe for chocolate tuiles? Read no more!

chocolate tuiles

Chocolate Tuiles
Adapted from Michel Roux’s Finest Desserts

Makes 30

9 oz/250 grams best-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I like lindt)
2/3 cup/75 gr slivered almonds, toasted and cooled

Temper the chocolate, and stir in the toasted almonds. Place the template on a sheet of rodoïde (or use a clean sheet of sturdy plastic such as a folder) and fill with about 1 tbs of the mixture. Repeat the process a little distance away from the first one. As soon as you have 5 tuiles fit, slide them onto a mold or rolling pin (side of a glass) to curve. Let cool completely, lift tuiles off the plastic only after the chocolate has set and just before serving, so that they keep their shine.

My thoughts on the challenge:
- The recipe says 15 minutes but it takes a bit longer. I've halved the recipe, and it worked just fine.
- Bittersweet chocolate worked alright with toasted almonds but I'm guessing other possibilities will work fine as well, like milk chocolate and hazelnuts.
- Tempering chocolate is a tricky thing for me. David Lebovitz's post on the subject is pretty useful.
- I didn't use a template, simply made round shaped ones with the back of the spoon.
- We had our tuiles with coffee and a dollop of mascarpone... Oh heaven!

19 comments:

Ethan said...

Great job, they look delicious. I need to try the chocolate tuiles next.

Snooky doodle said...

Chocolate is always welcome these look great :)

minisuperbias said...

Oh, these could go with so many things, they look yummy!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

What pretty tuiles! Very well done!

Cheers,

Rosa

Lauren said...

Mmm, your tuiles look amazing! Yum =D!

Babeth said...

Great job!

Anonymous said...

Perfect and delicate chocolate tuiles! Lovely job!

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Não acredito! Con tantas receitas à escolha e foste logo escolher a de Xicolate, tu que nem és apreciadora... Tinhas guardado para mim... Eu guardei-te uma flautinha de tiramisu para ti. Está aqui tão guardadinha na minha barriga! Quando vais de passeio?

Dewi said...

Your chocolate tuiles look so magnificent! I agree that tempering the chocolate can be so tricky.
You did it, and you did it very well. Bravo.

Lisa said...

I'll have a big bag of them, please! They look scrumptious and snappy :)

Dragon said...

They look lovely all on their own. Great job on this month's challenge.

Unknown said...

Beautiful. I am now questioning why I didn't make chocolate tuiles!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

I think anything chocolate is mighty fine, even tuiles.:)
This is what I made too (in the end). I quartered the recipe and subbed half with milk chocolate.

talida said...

with mascarpone, how wonderful!

Anonymous said...

These are beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Pretty pretty pretty :-)!!!

Anonymous said...

They came out nice and thin!

I was also happy that the project was shorter than usual.

Anonymous said...

Nicely done, they look great! I was too chicken to try the tempered chocolate version!

Diana said...

Wow! I didn't try the chocolate ones, but yours look so amazing I think I might!