The Thrill of the Tuile

How many ways can you pronounce the word “tuile”? As it turns out, many ways. Fortunately, the pronunciation is about all I struggled with when it comes to the January 2009 Daring Bakers‘ challenge.

This month’s challenge is 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.

Apparently, the word tuiles means tile in French and the cookies are named tuiles because after they’re shaped, they resemble a type of tile used in France.

I’d never made tuiles before but I have always found myself enchanted by both the shape of the cookie and the apparent lightness of the cookie. Karen and Zorra offered two sweet variations: one that makes a smooth cookie and one that makes a lacy cookie. They also provided a savoury variation.

I chose to make the sweet variation only and I flavoured mine with vanilla and lemon. The second part of the challenge was to shape the tuiles and combine them with something light and airy.

As I pulled my tuiles out of the oven, I rolled them around a spoon handle and then made a filling of whipped cream and dulce de leche. Some of my tuiles were a bit thick so as I rolled them, they cracked slightly. But once filled and stacked on a pretty plate, you couldn’t really notice any of the cracks.

These were delicious. I have to admit that I enjoyed them by sucking out the filling first and then munching the remaining tuile.

Thanks so much to Zorra and Karen for starting 2009 in such a light and pretty way!

Ciao!

To see a copy of the challenge recipes, please read Karen’s post and Zorra’s post.