MY TUILES EXPERIENCE

This time I had made up my mind, that come what may, I will take part in the DARING BAKER'S CHALLENGE as the past two months I had opted out of them.
When I read the challenge, I found it pretty interesting and thought to myself, hummm this should be easy, what was I THINKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????

I decided to go for the savoury ones. Though I have tried making Parmesan crisps once or twice before and found no luck, I thought let me give myself a well deserved second chance. Again, what was I THINKING!!!!!!!??????.

Well this months DARING BAKER'S CHALLENGE, was brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day 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.

There were a choice of three recipes that one could make.

My first attempt:

Savory tuile/cornet recipeFrom Thomas Keller "the French Laundry Cookbook"

• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (65 grams/2.1/4 ounces) all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (= 2/3 teaspoon table salt)**
• 8 tablespoons (114 grams/4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
• 2 large egg whites, cold
• 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

METHOD:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the softened butter until it is completely smooth and mayonnaise-like in texture.
3. Using a stiff spatula or spoon, beat the egg whites into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated and smooth.
4. Whisk in the softened butter by thirds, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary and whisking until the batter is creamy and without any lumps.
5. Transfer the batter to a smaller container, as it will be easier to work with.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
7. Make a 4-inch hollow circular stencil.
8. Place Silpat on the counter (it is easier to work on the Silpat before it is put on the sheet pan). Place the stencil in one corner of the sheet and, holding the stencil flat against the Silpat, scoop some of the batter onto the back of an offset spatula and spread it in an even layer over the stencil.
9. Then run the spatula over the entire stencil to remove any excess batter. After baking the first batch of cornets, you will be able to judge the correct thickness. You may need a little more or less batter to adjust the thickness of the cornets.
10. There should not be any holes in the batter.
11. Lift the stencil and repeat the process to make as many rounds as you have molds or to fill the Silpat, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cornets.
12. Sprinkle each cornet with a pinch of black sesame seeds.
13. Place the Silpat on a heavy baking sheet and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the batter is set and you see it rippling from the heat. The cornets may have browned in some areas, but they will not be evenly browned at this point.
14. Open the oven door and place the baking sheet on the door. This will help keep the cornets warm as you roll them and prevent them from becoming too stiff to roll. Flip a cornet over on the sheet pan, sesame seed side down and place 4-1/2 inch cornet mold at the bottom of the round.
15. If you are right-handed, you will want the pointed end on your left and the open end on your right. The tip of the mold should touch the lower left edge (at about 7 o'clock on a clock face) of the cornet.
16. Fold the bottom of the cornet and around the mold; it should remain on the sheet pan as you roll. Leave the cornet wrapped around the mold and continue to roll the cornets around molds; as you proceed, arrange the rolled cornets, seams side down, on the sheet pan so they lean against each other, to prevent from rolling.
17. When all the cornets are rolled, return them to the oven shelf, close the door, and bake for an additional 3 to 4 minutes to set the seams and color the cornets a golden brown. If the color is uneven, stand the cornets on end for a minute or so more, until the color is even. Remove the cornets from the oven and allow to cool just slightly, 30 seconds or so.
18. Gently remove the cornets from the molds and cool for several minutes on paper towels. Remove the Silpat from the baking sheet, wipe the excess butter from it, and allow it to cool down before spreading the next batch. Store the cornets for up to 2 days (for maximum flavor) in an airtight container.

I think I messed up with the measurement of the butter, and the "tuiles" were sooooo greasy.
Another mistake that I made was that i did not test a small batter first. I should have baked just one and seen and then probably made some adjustments to the batter. Who knows I could have stumbled upon some new baked goodies......alas that did not happen.

So my second attempt was to make the chocolate tuiles. They looked less complicated.

here is the recipe

Chocolate TuilesMichel 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

METHOD:

1. Temper the couverture, and stir in the toasted almonds.
2. 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.
3. Repeat the process a little distance away from the first one.
4. 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.

The only change I made here was, I used paper cupcake cups.
This is what I did

1. I melted the chocolate completely and added the sliced almonds.
2. With a pastry brush I painted the paper cups. The almonds would stick on the sides or the base.

painted chocolate cups.


3. let it dry for a while and then paint them again.
4. The only thing you have to take care is, paint at least three layers of chocolate,so that it forms nice cups, and doesn't break off.
5. slowly tear of the paper, once the chocolate is set. this will take at least 4-5 hours.
6. Be extremely cautious here, as the cup might break, in case you tend to be in a rush.

the ready chocolate cups.

My filling

Well I did not have a lot of stuff, so I thought of going with what I had in the fridge. I wanted to keep it fruity (as the challenge had demanded). So I made vanilla yogurt added some fruits and some more almonds.

For the vanilla yogurt
Greek yogurt-1 cup
sugar-1/2 cup
vanilla essence - a few drops

Just mix all the ingredients together.

Fruits I used

blueberry
strawberry
kiwi

To assemble

I added some almonds at the base

Added a teaspoon of the yogurt

added the blueberry, the strawberry and the kiwis.
finished it with some whipped cream.

So that was it. My challenge. Finally complete.
I really wanted to make the other versions, specially after seeing all the fun stuff done by my other Daring Baker buddies. But I guess I will try them, sometime later on.

Hope you all liked my challenge and the little variation I did to it.
happy eating.