Tuile Cookies

Yield: about 3 dozen wafer cookies
Recipe: 121/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 33

    During these difficult times, I have found myself baking more and more. Bread, pavlovas, croissants, and so on. One thing that is always necessary in our household is some cookies or baked goods to go along with tea in the evening. As we had the last banana mini loaf recently and thus the last sweet thing in the house, I thought it would be a great time to go Back to Baking since it had been a while. The ingredients that I had on hand allowed me to make tuile cookies. I had never made these and usually think of them more as pretty decorations rather than cookies to indulge with, but I went ahead and made them anyways. Also, they always kind of intimidated me because of how fragile and tricky they seem to be.

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 2 egg whites, at room temperature
• ⅔ cup icing sugar, sifted
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 2 teaspoons orange juice or brandy

    The batter is not complicated to make. What is rather more finicky is to cut out the template for the cookies and spread a thin layer of the cookie batter on top of this template, to then gently lift it to have a nice clean shape. I was worried that I was spreading a layer that was too thin, but in the end I think they were okay in that regards, if not even a bit too thick. I attempted to make leaves and butterflies. Evidently, I am not an artist. I forgot to turn my baking sheet halfway through baking and probably left the cookies in the oven for 30 seconds too long, so some did come out a bit burned. It did not change the flavour much, but they looked positively past golden brown. These cookies are very delicate and had a lovely subtle orange flavour. The perfect cookies to go with tea or coffee! I am not sure that I would redo this particular version of cookies again simply due to the time commitment in making the cookie templates and spreading the batter in an even thin layer, but they definitely tasted good and did the job as a tea companion.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. To create a template to make a particular tuile shape, use the lid of a plastic container. Cut away the edges and trace the shape that you want (e.g. a heart, a leaf, etc.) onto the centre of the lid, and cut a whole in the lid in this shape.
3. Melt the butter in a small pot and set aside to cool.
4. Using a hand or stand mixer, whip the egg whites until they are foamy, then add the icing sugar and whip on low speed until it is well incorporated. Increase the speed  to high and whip until a medium peak is obtained.
5. Add the flour, orange zest and orange juice and whisk together by hand.
6. Add the cooled melted butter and whisk gently until the mixture is homogenous.
7. Place the template onto the parchment-lined baking tray and evenly spread a thin layer of the cookie batter over it. Gently life the template to reveal the shape, place it close to the first cookie without touching it and repeat the process.
8. Bake the cookies for 3-6 minutes, rotating the baking trays halfway through cooking. Once the cookies are golden brown around the edges, remove the tray from the oven. If you want to add a curve to the cookies, immediately lift them with a spatula while they are still warm and set on top of a rolling pin so that it takes the curve. Once cooled, remove carefully and store in an airtight container.

Note from Anna:

• Tuile cookies are very delicate are are sensitive to humidity. They should be stored in a tightly sealed contained.

Valerie