Tuiles

I seem to be waiting until the last minute with everything this month!  Though I think my TWD gingerbread is as last minute as it gets... =)  I deliberately waited until this week to make this month's Daring Bakers challenge, though.  I knew I'd be on vacation and I'd have more time available.

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.

They wanted to give us something that could be easily mixed up from ingredients already in our kitchens.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been meaning to try my hand at tuiles, but just haven't gotten around to it.  We were required to use a specific recipe, shape the tuiles in some way, and pair them with something light.  

I knew I wanted to make some sort of cup out of mine to meet the shaping requirement.  I made some delicious sorbet last week that I could put in the cups, and that fit the requirement that we pair our tuiles with something light.  After mixing and chilling the batter, I took part of it and tinted it pink with some gel food coloring.  I used my small offset spatula to spread large circles of batter on my sheet pan that I had lined with non-stick foil (I love that stuff!).  Then I had some fun decorating them with spirals and dots.

I think I had the batter a bit too thick, and it took about 9 minutes for the tuiles to start turning a faint brown around the edges.  I think I baked them too long, because when I tried to shape them over a ramekin, they cracked.  So I made some more, baking them for a couple minutes less.  They were okay to shape, but I wish I'd been able to get them a bit more brown, for better flavor.  Later I had the idea to make some thinner freeform tuiles for a garnish, and I was able to get them much more brown.  

The verdict?  I found that although the formation of the tuiles looks fairly simple, getting a good result can be a bit more difficult than it at first appears.  I definitely want to try this again to see if I can get a better result.  I'd also like to try another recipe to see if I can get something that's more crisp while still flexible enough to shape.  Brianna and Gillian seemed to enjoy eating the pieces from my broken first attempt, and Brianna asked if I could make bowls like that again some time.

If you want to try your hand at this month's challenge, head over to Karen's blog or Zorra's blog for the recipe.  And be sure to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll to see what everyone else came up with!