Thursday 29 January 2009

Tuiles

The new year is here, wish u all a very Happy New Year. Cant believe that the year has passed, so much of hustle bustle this year. oh!! i mean last year. Well now i m in my country visiting family for 2 months and its all the more hectic with my little one. I thought that i would not participate for this month's as well as the Feb challenge but, somehow could not resist. Also i know i cannot participate in the Feb challenge and so dint want to skip Jan.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda 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.

The name 'tuile' is a french word meaning 'tile,' and when presented in rows are supposed to resemble the curved tiles on the tops of buildings. In their traditional form, a tuile is a flat cookie which has been set over a curved surface while freshly baked and allowed to cool, giving its characteristic curved-tile shape.

And a Nougat is actually a darker candy, made of caramel syrup and nuts. This is rolled into thin sheets and formed into cups or bowls to serve as a vessel for other candy or fruit.

Well this was another experience , not so difficult and time consuming like the last one. It was fun, I wanted to try the nut version as well as the Savoury ones, so i decided to use the Chocolate nut recipe for the sweet one and for the savoury ones, i altered Vegan yum yum's recipe a bit. I simply love her blog, her presentations are simply amazing.

My mom is a amazing cook so i got a lot of help from her to finish my challenge. My sister, cousin , brother.. love eating so i did have some handy Ginnie pigs to test my cooking skills on. :) Trust me they were glad to do it. But it was a lil disastrous and panachey for me, cuz firstly i was not in my cooking space and had to ask mom for each and everything as to where it was kept, then kids running around, etc etc in that havoc i forgot to measure my butter, while i just chopped it and kept aside to get it to room temp and in a rush mixed my flour to it, so basically it was all by eyeball after that. Once i put the tuiles in the oven the lights went off .. yes!! that too for 4 hours! so i was holding my head with terrible panic attack, and could do nothing by wait. Finally the lights came and i popped a batch of savoury tuiles. I decided to serve them with a dollop of cucumber curd dip topped with a olive, and some salad on the side. The sweet ones dint need much as i love the mingle of almond with chocolate. Its just the best combination ever according to me. My little hearts were topped with a dollop of whipped cream, a slice of fresh strawberry and a drop of apple jam! Trust me the combination tasted heavenly.

I tried capturing a few expressions of my family:)

Lets get to the recipe:

CHOCOLATE TUILES

Michel Roux’s Finest Desserts.

Makes 30 Preparation time: 15 minutes!

9 oz/250 grams dark or white couverture or best-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2/3 cup/75 gr slivered almonds, toasted and cooled
Temper the couverture, 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.This has a nice crunch of toasted almonds to it. And a beautiful feel of creamy chocolate.


Here's the recipe for SAVOURY TUILES:

Source-Veganyumyum

1/2 Cup Butter/margarine, softened

2 Tbs Flax Egg*

1/4 tsp Salt

3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp mixed herbs

1/2 tsp chili flakes

*Flax Egg 1 Tbs Flax Seed +1/4 Cup Water

Grind the flax seed to a powder in a spice grinder. Whisk with water and set aside. Use 2 Tbs of this mixture for the tuile cookies. Preheat oven to 375°F. Whip the butter till soft.Mix the herbs, flakes and salt with the butter and whisk them well. Add the flax eggs and Butter. Add the flour to this mix and knead it till soft, add little milk to this mix to make a paste like texture.

U can buy tuile moulds and templates or else just use a cardboard to cut ur own template.Put your template on a parchment paper and put a spoonful of your batter on it. spread it evenly using a spatula, remove the excess. Remove the template and put them for baking until golden brown.As soon as you remove them from the oven, shape them on a greased rolling pin. ( i wanted them to be flat so i did not put them on the rolling pin.)You can then serve them with desired dips, salads. I used cucumber dip and salad on the side.

It was a great challenge, i honestly enjoyed making these and will try diff variations soon.:)