Sesame - Orange Almond Tuiles (Eggless)

Sesame - Orange Almond Tuiles (Eggless) . Honestly, I was not much of an online shopper until they started selling bake ware and cook books online. Not that I go crazy buying things, but it’s so good to browse through these written by excellent authors, especially those books with the Look Inside feature.

Of course, I want them all! The Baking Bible by Rose Levy, Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi, Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apperentice, Michel Roux’s Pastry the list goes on and on! David Lebovitz is one another author I love and keep going back to again and again. His book Ready For Dessert came to my doorstep a few days (OK long ago!) and it’s a great one to have in your collection! Humor, great recipes and lots of eye-catching pictures. I would have loved to bake one of those custard based recipes by default but time just seems to fly!

In the meantime, it was so easy to decide on the super easy, convenient recipe for Sesame Orange Almond Tuiles. I always fall for tuiles so quickly, almonds, sesame and orange together made it even easier to decide on them. An egg free recipe, you can make the batter (a delicious one!) ahead and refrigerate for upto a week. I was a tad skeptical, having found these versions yielding rather tough, chewy cookies in my previous attempts.

I need not have been as the tuiles baked up quite crisp and very flavorful.   

Undoubtedly, they will taste even better filled with some vanilla ice cream! 

Ingredients

Soft unsalted butter – 45 grams

Oil (toasted sesame oil if you have) – 15 ml / 1 tablespoon

Fresh squeezed orange juice – 45 ml / 3 tablespoons

Zest of almost one whole orange

Vanilla Sugar – 135 grams

Flour  - 35 grams

Flaked almonds – 60 grams

White sesame seeds – 2 tablespoons

Black sesame seeds – 1 ½ teaspoons (or more white sesame seeds)

Method :

• In a medium sized saucepan, over low heat, heat the butter, sugar, oil, orange juice and zest until melted and smooth. 
• Take off the heat, stir in the flour, almonds and sesame seeds. Let the batter rest for 1 hour at room temperature. If planning to make the tuiles later, refrigerate batter airtight for up to a week. 
• Pre-heat oven to 190 C/ 375 F. Line two cookie sheets with baking parchment. David doesn’t recommend using silicon mats for this recipe. 
• Set a rolling pin for shaping the tuiles on a folded dish towel, and have ready a wire rack to cool the cookies.  
• Drop level tablespoons of batter spaced 3 inches apart (the cookies will spread a lot). Flatten the dough slightly with a dampened finger. 
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or till the cookies  are evenly browned rotating the sheet in between. Be careful not to burn them. The subsequent batches make take even lesser time. Do make one test cookie to determine the baking time. The cookies will feel soft after the come out of the oven, but will harden as they cool.
• Bake the cookies in batches. Keep the oven on. 
• Once you have baked all the cookies, place one baked cookie at a time on the baking sheet. Pop into the oven for 20-30 seconds or till soft. Drape over the rolling pin, press gently, hold for a few seconds till firm again. Slide off the rolling pin, store airtight. You could also shape them into cigars or little cups. Serve filled with vanilla ice cream.

 So if you have been looking for an egg free version of these lacy cookies, here is a recipe you could try.

Important : You can make the batter ahead, but be very sure, you serve the tuiles within hours of baking them. 

You can also subscribe to my channel on YouTube meant for beginners in baking. Click to subscribe now!

Saffron Tuiles With Saffron & Pistachio Diplomat Cream

And I am still enamored with tuiles! I had planned to make saffron tuiles with a creamy filling as one of the desserts for hubby's birthday. Made the batter with a generous pinch of the precious strands from my new box of saffron. Much to my disappointment,  I could not detect the aroma of saffron in it. Bah! The batter was promptly chucked into the fridge. A day and a half later, I baked the tuiles anyway. The flavor and the aroma they exuded made me fall in love with tuiles all over again! All the saffron needed was a good soak!

I wasted no time in making some saffron and cardamom pastry cream, lightened it with some whipped cream. A drop of rose essence and some sliced pistachios to finish. Think really creamy kesar -pista kulfi filled in dainty saffron wafers. Traditional Indian dessert flavors fill the French cookies in this easy, make-ahead dessert, Saffron Tuiles With Saffron And Pistachio Diplomat Cream.
 

For The Saffron Tuiles (makes about 40 tuiles, depending on size and shape)

Ingredients:
Unsalted Butter - 45 grams /  3 tablespoons, melted and still very warm
Sugar - 130 grams / 2/3 cup / 4.625 oz    approximately
Egg whites, large - 90 grams/ 3 large
All Purpose Flour - 60 grams / 1/4 cup 3 tablespoons

Saffron strands - 1/2 heaping teaspoon, crushed (or more)
Crushed cardamom - 1/4 teaspoon (optional)
Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
Yellow gel color - a streak or two, use very carefully (optional)
More butter to grease the pan liners


Equipment - Baking trays or pans or cookie sheets, heavy duty aluminum foil dull side up. Small cups, small box (like you smallest box of baking powder) rolling pin for shaping. A cooling rack.


Procedure:  If baking cookies right away, preheat oven to 150 degrees C / 300 degree F. If baking cookies later, just mix the batter as mentioned below. I highly recommend resting the batter overnight to get the best of the saffron aroma and flavor.

If you would be using foil, measure the size needed to line your tray or pan. Cut carefully making sure you do not cause major creases. If there are any small creases smooth it out. Wrinkles will mar the appearance of the cookies. Line your pan(s) foil dull side up. Using a silicon brush, grease the foil with butter lightly  but thoroughly. I used my 9'' square tin. I could bake 2 at a time. So be warned, you will need patience to bake these in batches if using a small oven. Quarter the recipe if patience is not among your virtues.

• Stir the saffron in the very warm butter. In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients till well blended. This won't be like regular cookie batter, rather spoon- able. Let the batter rest for at least 10 minutes or keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Overnight will bring out the flavor of saffron better. The batter firms up slightly on refrigerating.
• Drop level teaspoons of batter 2 inches apart on the prepared foil. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter evenly in strips or in 2 1/2 inch rounds or oval or other shape. This will look almost translucent. If using multiple trays, you could spread the batter and keep the trays in the oven one by one. A test batch of one or two will tell you the right amount of batter for the shape and size of cookies you need. 

• Bake cookies of similar shapes and sizes using the same amount of batter for each batch to get the same results. Don't forget to note down the baking time. The cookies will be really crisp when cool and will be delicate enough to shatter even with gentle pressure.
•  
• Bake for about 10-11 minutes. The time depends on the thickness of the cookies. Watch very carefully, bake till the cookies are golden brown half or three quarters way to the center, but still pale in the center. I baked the cookies till they turned golden all over. If the cookies are not baked thoroughly, they won't be completely crisp when they cool. But be careful not to burn them. Rotate pans if using a large oven and multiple sheets. I baked for about 11 minutes. 
• Remove the cookies sheets or pans from the oven and set them down, let cool completely. Carefully lift the entire foil with the cookies out.Very carefully and gently, peel the foil from underneath the tuiles. Set the cookies down very gently on a tray or airtight flat box if you don't want to shape them. 
• After baking all of the cookies, keep your rolling pin or cup or little box (to make cylinders) right beside the oven if you want to curve it. You won't have time to turn, go to the table and then shape. Very gently put one cookie at a time on the sheet and then in the oven (at 150 C)  for 40-60 seconds till it becomes very soft and flexible. Then shape. They harden very very quickly as in a matter of 4-5 seconds, so its really important that you work very quickly.  So timing is the most important thing.
• They will be really really delicate, so handle the cookies with care. Store in an airtight container. Alice says they can be airtight for at least a month.

Saffron, Cardamom And Pistachio Diplomat Cream - Makes about 2.5 cups

Whole milk - 2 cups / 480 ml
Saffron strands - 1/2 teaspoon, heaping
Cardamom, crushed - 1/2 teaspoon
Rose essence (or rosewater, read note) - 2 drops
Egg yolks - 108 grams / 6 large
Granulated sugar - 1/4 cup / 50 grams
All-purpose flour  - 48 grams - 6 tablespoons
Unsalted butter - 30 grams / 2 tablespoons
Pistachios, sliced - 1/2 cup
Sweetened whipped cream, chilled - 1 - 1.5 cups or as needed , read note
A tiny tiny streak of yellow gel color (optional) 

Method:

• Suspend a fine meshed strainer over a medium sized heat proof bowl. Set this near your stove. Have a spatula ready nearby.

• In a medium sized saucepan, combine the milk, saffron and cardamom. Heat till just before the boiling point. Turn off the heat. Cover. Let infuse for at least half an hour. After half-an-hour heat again and bring to a boil.

• In the bottom of another medium sized heavy saucepan, off the heat, beat or whisk the egg yolks, rose essence and 1/4 cup sugar.  Whisk in the flour until fully incorporated.

• Whisking all the time, using a small ladle, drizzle the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture, just a tiny bit at a time. Very gradually, add all the milk. Do not rush this process. 

• Bring the saucepan to your stove and heat it over low heat, whisking constantly, until it begins to bubble. Once bubbling and fairly thick, remove it from the heat. Do not heat for very long as the cream will turn very thick and tough to press through the sieve. Immediately stir in the butter until combined, without waiting, press through the strainer (a workout!)
•  Press cling wrap to the surface, chill till needed. You could refrigerate this for up to 3 days.

• Gently fold in the whipped cream into the cooled pastry cream. Add the color if needed. Stir in the pistachios. Keep this covered and chilled until serving time.
•  Just before serving, fill in the tuile cups or cylinders. Garnish with fresh rose petals and serve immediately.

Please note : Good quality saffron gives great flavor. Use rose essence very very carefully as even a drop more can be excessive. The smell must be there but not quite. Use food grade rosewater  if you can find it. I have used sweetened whipped cream so the sugar in the pastry cream has been reduced greatly. If using unsweetened cream for whipping, increase the sugar in the pastry cream. I have used pastry cream and whipped cream in the ratio of 2:1. Vary it as you like.

You could try adding some sliced pistachios in the tuiles batter as well if you don't want to shape them. I did not add as it would be difficult to shape.

The amount of pastry cream you will need depends on the number and size of tuiles. 

Endless possibilities, so easy, love, love tuiles! Expect to see more of these here, later if not very soon!

Cocoa Tuiles - Tuiles Love!

Guilty, guilty of making appearances so sporadic here! Summer vacations are just not my thing. Please say neither is it your favorite time of the year and make me feel better! I don't know if I have had enough of vacations or the kids have had enough of me, but neither of us can wait for school to re-open! Hang on, its just a week away, we keep telling each other!  And then a couple of things more not in my favor.  Out of the few recipes I managed to make in the mayhem, some recipes were not up to my expectations, some needing re-work ( exasperating I know!). Then a couple of good ones I want to share with you but turned out the pictures are terrible! I have never been proud of my photography, very honestly far from it, but this time my camera seems to be really avenging me for something! Thinking I won't have a single thing to post at this rate, am picking out a couple of recipes which I had put on hold for better pictures.  Please bear with me!

Here are some tuiles I had made sometime ago. Some super crisp, really chocolaty ones, they can be as addictive as potato chips, warns Alice Medrich! Great to munch on as is, but can you really resist playing around with these? Embellish them with nuts or drizzle them with some chocolate or use them to pipe in some coffee mascarpone / cream and berries to make desserts out of them.

As with all tuile batters, this is really easy and quick to make. You could make the batter and refrigerate it upto 3 days, make the tuiles in batches at your pace. Make sure you weigh your ingredients correctly as more flour can make your tuiles tough, more cocoa will make them bitter, less of it makes them sweet. I like them slightly sweetish with a bitter edge. I prefer trying out half the recipe first and then double it to suit my taste. 

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter, melted and still very warm - 56 grams approximately / 4 tablespoons (weigh or measure before melting)

Sugar, powdered - 100 grams / 1/2 cup (powdered after weighing)

Natural cocoa ( Nilgiris, Hersheys, Cadbury's) - 1/4 cup / 22 grams approx (sieve after measuring)

Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Egg whites - 60 grams / 2 large

All purpose flour - 10 grams / 4 teaspoons

Method: Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F. Line your baking trays with aluminum foil, smoothing any creases, taking care not to tear it. Grease lightly but very thoroughly with melted butter.

In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, cocoa and salt. Whisk in the egg whites. Add flour and mix only till combined. Let the batter rest for at-least 10 minutes or up to 3 days, covered and refrigerated.

Drop level teaspoons of batter 2 inches apart on the prepared foil. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter evenly in 3 inch rounds or oval or other shape about 1/16 of an inch.  If using multiple trays, you could spread the batter and keep the trays in the oven one by one. If using the same pan for the next set of tuiles, make sure the pan is cool before you spread the batter.

Bake for 10 to 11 minutes. The time depends on the thickness of the cookies. Watch very carefully,  its tough to tell when they are baked and when they start burning because of the dark color! The edges will be ever so slightly darker says Alice, but it really is not easy to make this out. Rotate pans if using a large oven and multiple sheets. If the cookies are not baked thoroughly, they won't be completely crisp when they cool. A test batch must tell you the approximate baking time. I baked for about 11 minutes.

Remove the cookies sheets or pans from the oven and set them down. Keep your rolling pin / cup right beside the oven if you want to curve them or shape them into cups. You won't have time to turn, go to the table and then shape.You are supposed to slide a very thin metal spatula when the cookie is still hot and soft. Then shape it immediately into a curve or cigar and cool it on a rack. If the cookies harden before you shape, pop them back in the oven for a few seconds, they will soften, you can shape again. I normally let them cool and harden, then peel the foil from underneath the tuiles very gently taking care not to break the tuiles. After baking all of the cookies, I put one cookie at a time in the oven (the underside of the cookie facing up, so that when you pick up the cookie and shape it into a cone, you have the right side facing outward) on the sheet for 30-40 seconds till they became very soft and flexible. Then shaped them. They harden very very quickly as in a matter of 4-5 seconds, so its really important that you work very quickly.

With basic tuiles, coconut wafers and cocoa tuiles done (and loved much), you don't need to fear more tuiles appearing here...at least for some time!