TUILES - THE DARING BAKERS

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.

It is the very first Daring Bakers challenge of the year and, thankfully, after the Christmas/New Year period during which most of us embarked ourselves into a baking/cooking/eating frenzy, this light recipe is very welcome as it is far from being gargantuesque and doesn't require hours of slaving in the kitchen. The pefect choice for a stressless and healthier start!

Making "Tuiles" is all about technique and aquiring new fundamentals in pâtisserie decorating rather than about testing your baking skills...

I chose to follow Dutch Master Chef Angélique Schmeinck's recipe and decided to create my own filling which is very much inspired by the one used for the great Sicilian pastry dessert named "Cannoli". While this recipe is very easy to put into execution, the real "difficulty" lies within the shaping process.
Although the molding of the baked "Tuiles" isn't really problematic nor laborious, the process is nonetheless quite tricky as one needs to be patient and delicate.

Even if my "Tuiles" turned out well, I wasn't too thrilled with the results as they were kind of rubbery, no matter how long I baked them (10 minutes with brown edges) nor how thin I spread the batter. The cookies never really wanted to get crispy enough.

Anyway, these "Tuiles" tasted great and eventhough they weren't as friable and crunchy as I expected, they nevertheless presented well and made wonderful pastry cups in which to contain my luscious "Orange Praline Ricotta Mousse". A delightful dessert!

I really want to thank Karen of "Bake My Day" (Netherlands) and Zorra of "1x Umruehren Bitte" (Switzerland now living in Spain) for having chosen that great recipe and for expanding my baking knowledge!

~ Tuiles With Orange Praline Filling ~
"Tuiles" recipe taken from “The Chocolate Book” by Angélique Schmeinck and "Orange Praline Ricotta Mousse" recipe created by Rosa @ Rosa's Yummy Yums 2009.

Yields 8-10 tuiles.

Ingredients for the "Tuiles":
65g (1/4 Cup) Softened butter (not melted but soft)
60g (1/2 Cup) Sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 Packet Vanilla sugar (7g or substitute with a dash of pure vanilla extract)
2 Large egg whites, slightly whisked with a fork
65g (1/2 Cup) Sifted all purpose flour
1 Tbs Cocoa powder or food coloring of choice (optional)
Butter or spray, to grease baking sheet

Ingredients for the "Orange Praline Ricotta Mousse":
250g (1 Cup) Fresh ricotta
1/2 Tsp Pure vanilla extract or paste
1/8 Cup Confectioner's sugar
3 Tbs Candied orange rind, finely chopped
1/5 Tsp Ground cinnamon A pinch Ground nutmeg
1 Tbs grand Marnier or Cointreau
3 Tbs Thick cream (35% fat)
3 1/2 Tbs Praline powder (see recipe)
3/4 Cup (180g/ml) Thick cream (35% fat), whipped

Method for the "Tuiles":
1. Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F).
2. Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed), cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until to a paste.
3. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites.
4. Add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter (Be careful to not overmix).
5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up.
6. 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 shaped stencil/cardboard ).
7. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter (leave some room in between your shapes).
8. Bake butterflies in a preheated oven for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
9. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape (see remarks).
10. Let cool.

Method for the "Orange Praline Filling":
11. Beat the ricotta until smooth and fluffy.
12. Add all ingredients (apart from the whipped cream) and mix well.
13. Delicately fold in the whipped cream.
14. Pipe the filling into the cup-shaped tuiles.

Remarks:
This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it. If you want to decorate your tuiles, mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored (or coloring). Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.
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.
Shape the tuiles, using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones…. 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 and pipe the desired shapes and bake or spoon the batter (use 1 1/2 tbs batter per tuile) onto the baking sheets (the cookies should be at least 2 inches/5cm apart, as they spread during baking).

Serving suggestions:
This dessert is good at any time of the day, with a good glass of dessert wine or a cup of tea/coffee.

Etant donné la longueur du texte original, je n'ai malheureusement pas pu faire une traduction française de ce billet et je m'en excuse auprès de tous mes amis lecteurs et blogueurs francophones!

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C'est pourquoi je vous suggère de vous rendre sur les blogs mentionnés ci-dessous. Vous y trouverez cette recette en version française.

Chez Vibi de "La Casserole Carrée" (Canada)
Chez Sandra de "Le Pétrin" (France)