Made largely as a response to the glut of ice cream churning through my kitchen this Christmas, these tuile biscuits are buttery, crisp and delicate but while warm, flexible enough to be moulded into a variety of shapes, including the traditional cone.
The secret to their wafer-thinness is an old cheffy trick of using a cardboard template. Using a piece of thick card, cut out any shape (yes, would work well for your children's thing or that hen party! Don't get the two confused though.) and spread the mix evenly with a palette knife, then lift the card away carefully. The batter hardly expands on cooking so you can bake quite sharp lines and points.
Sugar Tuile
Makes many, many, many. Freeze any left over.
Beat together 100g caster sugar with 50g melted butter. Add in 100g plain flour, a pinch of table salt, 35g of honey or maple syrup and finally 100g of egg white (about three medium eggs).
Spread the batter very thinly on a non stick baking surface; Silpat is ideal but baking parchment or silicon will do. Bake at 160°C for around six minutes. You have to judge this yourself depending on your oven. You're looking for a pale gold colour with darker edges.
Let the tuile cool for a few seconds before lifting the pliable biscuits off with a clean palette knife. These maybe moulded to any shape now - I've even seen wooden spoon spirals. Return the tuile to the oven briefly if they start to harden. Be bold. You can even squeeze circles between two tartlet or cake tins that have been warmed in a very low oven.
Here I've made three shapes: dramatic pointy things, the traditional cone - made from large circles of batter rolled around a mould (or a dibber or lemon squeezer) and a 'basket' made from an upturned glass tumbler.
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| Is this a dagger I see before me? No Ma'am, it's more like a delicious biscuit. |
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| Baskety thing just waiting for ice cream and fruit. |
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| Glass man wearing biscuit baseball hat. |
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| Metal horn mould being used. |
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| Ta-dah. See, quite dramatic. |
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