T hey’re a pastry chef’s secret weapon.
Classic, crisp, delicate tuiles – those thin, finely textured cookies romantically named after curved Mediterranean roof tiles – are perfect by themselves as a debonair flourish with a demitasse of espresso. But in restaurants, they also may appear as the layers of a napoleon, or shaped into hollow drums that hold fruit and custard, or rolled into pirouettes and filled with chocolate ganache.
For the home cook who learns the basic technique, the rewards are exponential. One easy recipe can vastly expand your dessert repertoire.
Tuiles (rhymes with “wheels”) can be the foundation of a dessert, for example, as when a cinnamon tuile, sides curving up like a tiny, sweet taco, reveals a small dome of coffee pastry cream.
Or they can be a decorative punctuation mark, as when a pistachio tuile is tucked into a quenelle of white chocolate ice cream atop a pistachio creme brulee.
They can be formed into shapes; flavored with spices, orange zest or nuts; tinted with cocoa; dipped in chocolate and embellished with designs.
Basic tuile batter is unique but simple: melted butter, powdered sugar, flour, egg whites. It’s best to work with all ingredients at room temperature so everything gets evenly incorporated.
Strain the batter to ensure it’s smooth. Then chill it for at least an hour so it’s easier to work with and spreads less when baked. Spread the dough thin with a metal spatula over a template cut from a semi-stiff but flexible material, such as the plastic lid of a coffee can.
To make patterned tuiles – with stripes or polka dots, for instance – prepare the basic batter and a chocolate batter: Take about a third of the basic batter, stir in a little cocoa, and you’re armed with two batters.
Use the basic batter to line a template. Then use the second batter to fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip, and pipe a pattern onto the cookie.
To make an elegant web pattern, for example, pipe stripes across each cookie, then carefully run a toothpick across the stripes. As the cookies bake, the pattern melts into an almost seamless decoration.
Tuiles are fragile, so bake them on a silicone baking mat for easier removal from the pan. It’s also easier to spread them on silicone than parchment. The key is to work quickly, and in small batches. If some cool before you’ve shaped them, place them back in the oven for several seconds to warm them.
Hot from the oven, the cookies are fleetingly malleable, allowing them to be shaped – traditionally in imitation of half-pipe roof tiles by being carefully draped over a rolling pin or a wine bottle.
Turn them into pretty bowls to fill with mousse by draping them over ramekins.
Or, wrap the still-pliable cookies around the handle of a wooden spoon and you have lovely pirouettes to be filled with Nutella or dipped into melted chocolate.
Or, gently fold the cookie into a cone shape – a refined version of an ice cream cone.
1/2cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/2cups plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
4egg whites
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Set aside to cool while preparing the remaining ingredients.
Sift the powdered sugar and flour into a mixing bowl. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the dry ingredients and melted butter until incorporated. Beat in the egg whites, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl, just until the ingredients are combined.
Strain the batter through a fine-mesh strainer. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator; let stand 5 to 10 minutes to temper.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a piece of flexible cutting mat or material of similar thickness, such as a plastic coffee can lid, to make a template. Draw and cut a circle about 1 inch larger than the desired tuile size. Draw a circle within the template to desired size – 41/2 inches, 31/4 inches or 23/4 inches. Cut out the circle with scissors, starting at the center of the template (you’ll have to poke the scissors through the plastic).
Place the template on a Silpat-lined baking sheet. For 41/2-inch circles, thinly spread 1 tablespoon of batter onto the template with a metal spatula. For 31/4-inch circles, spread 2 teaspoons batter. For 23/4-inch circles, spread 1 teaspoon batter.
If making tuiles with designs (such as stripes or polka dots), fill a pastry bag fitted with a straight round tip (small or medium, depending on how big you want your stripes or dots) with the chocolate batter. Pipe stripes or dots directly onto the tuile (leave the stencil in place and lift it after piping on the designs). To make a web pattern, pipe stripes onto the tuile and then gently drag the tip of a knife or a toothpick across the stripes to create the desired effect.
Bake six tuiles at a time if you are making flat tuiles. If you are making shaped tuiles, bake three or four at a time so you have time to handle them while still warm. Bake 6 to 7 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Keep an eye on them over the last couple minutes to make sure they don’t get too dark.
Remove the tuiles from the oven and, if making flat tuiles, place them on a wire rack to cool. If molding any of the shaped tuiles, do so while they are hot from the oven. They’ll cool quickly, so shape them immediately. For classic tuiles, drape them onto a rolling pin until cool. To make cups, drape tuiles over a small inverted ramekin, bowl or glass. For pirouettes, roll them around the handle of a wooden spoon. For cones, shape them by hand. Once the tuiles have been shaped, let them cool on a wire rack. They should be eaten the same day they are baked.
Makes 24 41/2-inch tuiles or 36 31/4-inch tuiles or 72 23/4-inch tuiles. Each 41/2-inch tuile: 87 calories; 1 gram protein; 12 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 4 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 10 milligrams cholesterol; 10 milligrams sodium.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
