Cookaholics Bulletin Board

The recipe I hinted about (intrigue is how I keep an audience) was for something I found in a Swiss cooking magazine called Cinnamon Leaves which were like a tuile. I was not too thrilled with the cookies (100 gm, flour, 100 gm melted butter, 100 powdered sugar, 2 TB cinnamon, drizzled with chocolate). The powdered sugar left them a bit gummy and I wanted them to be nice and crisp. What I did like was the baking technique. You put the dough into a pastry bag and squirted out little mounds onto a sheet of baking paper. You topped this with another piece of baking paper and smoothed the cookies into smooth thin circles with your fingers. You put the whole thing in the oven. After 7 minutes, the paper comes off and you continue to bake for a few minutes more. The cookies were very thin (evenly thin) with a nice smooth surface.

Have you ever heard of doing it like that? I was impressed but, then again, I don't get out much.

Watch this space, who knows what I will have for you next.

Mary

Those are a lot like tuilles, although the recipe I use for tuilles also has a lot of egg white.

The way I get batter like that thin is to use a stencil. They're easy to make. Just cut the side of plastic gallon milk carton into whatever shape you want, then offset the batter into it. The milk carton is about the perfect thickness for tuille paste.

That is an interesting technique, although if you get good with a stencil, it would be the quicker way to go.

Amy

OH yes, egg white was there too. They are crisper today but my socks are still firmly on my feet.

Mary

Mary,

The tuille recipe we use at the restaurant is from Bo Friberg's The Professional Pastry Chef. They are very crisp. You may want to give this recipe a try.

85 g bread flour
85 g cake flour
170 g powdered sugar
6 egg whites (3/4 c/180ml)
115 g melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method: Sift together flours and sugar. Put in mixer and incorporate the egg whites using the paddle until smooth. Mix in melted butter and vanilla. Make sure you scrape the bowl many times.

If using a stencil I find it's easier to work with batter while quite cold out of the fridge. I bake at about 350 until they are just a pale golden color, about 7 minutes in a convection oven.

We use a leaf shape and then wrap them around a knife steel the instant they come out of the oven to shape them. They're a garnish on one of our desserts.

Amy

I just saw that you posted the recipe... sorry I didn't respond sooner. I can't get cake flour... does that thing with adding the cornstarch work?

Mary

Yes, the cornstarch trick works (to an extent), but don't stress over the flour too much.

Amy