Daring Bakers: Light and dessert?


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.

Phew, now that I got that important bit of information out of the way.... (Hi BC, and BC's wonderful computer literate son!)

Well this was an interesting challenge, making Tuiles and shaping them, with alot of different options. And I will admit right now, I ignored most of them. I printed off the original post with recipes, I used the first one and I ignored everything else.

I also made them twice.

This was attempt number one.

I had this plan. I was going to make little Tuile cups, filled with a fruit mousse, and serve them at my housewarming party. They were going to be so cute, these little cups, entirely edible, with fun tuile decorations.

The best laid plans of mice and bloggers....

It didn't work.

I personally think I forgot to sift the icing sugar or something, cause they just did not work well. I could never get the cookie layer thin enough on the sheet and what did bake up had an odd, lacy texture.

I even tried with some of my little decoration ideas. Chocolate tuiles, thin, wrapped around chopsticks for a fun and "ooooh how did you do that?" shape. Some of my batter I turned blue to make playful shapes with.

Unfortunately, most of these turned out brittle and uncooperative.

So I put them aside, made other things, and came back to them later.

This is what later resulted in. A much better batter, able to make thin, crisp tuile cookie cups and shapes. This time I went with a slightly larger sized mold, a ramekin, and made just enough "cups" for my family, with seconds for the boys.

The blue tuile cookie, standing out on the plate, is actually from my first attempt, as are the little chocolate curls that decorate the mousse (which is a milk chocolate salted butter caramel mousse from Tartlette - hey, Karen and Zorra said to pair the cookies with something light, which a mousse is. They never said anything about that light not involving chocolate or caramel! Common, this is the Daring Bakers, of course I had to use chocolate and caramel!)

Aside from not freaking out about this months challenge recipe length, one thing that really hit home actually came from the mousse rather than the challenge recipe. I decided to make the mousse on a Sunday night. After we'd all had dinner, I'd cleaned up, gotten a start on the next day's lunches, mopped my kitchen floor, and then the entire rest of the house, I decided to make mousse.


Heck I'd even put my youngest son to bed already. While he curled up under his blankets with all his little stuffed friends, I made a caramel without blinking an eye. I pittered around the kitchen, getting the next steps ready, while the sugar bubbled away in the pot and I kept an eye on it.

I could never have done that a year ago. Working with hot sugar would have forced me to do it early in the day (so I'd have time to redo it, several times if necessary) and I'd have hovered over the stove, afraid to blink.

Every month, despite some annoyances, I am glad I am a Daring Baker. And I thank Daring Baker's like Karen and Zorra, for sending me off on a different culinary path than one I might have chosen for myself. If not for this month's challenge, I might never have felt a need to make a tuille cookie.

And extra special thanks, ongoing all the time, to Lis and Ivonne for starting this little baking journey that sooooooooooo many of us are on now.

Oh, and in case you wondered, I did let my little guy get out of bed to have an extra special bed time snack with his brother. They giggled and ate, talking about how they were eating the antlers off the mousse with ever crunch of the cookie. Both of them had seconds.

22 comments:

BC said...

They look fantastic! Well done and congratulations on whipping up a mousse without blinking an eye.

Karen Baking Soda said...

You had me on caramel, never looked back!
Smiling visualizing your boys huddled over an extra special bedtime snack with crunchies!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

very cool using the muffin pan! lovely!

Di said...

Your tuile cups look great! I tried to make some, but I had trouble getting them thin enough, too. I totally agree with your comments about making caramel, too. I made some last night, and did other things at the same time. I never would have been able to do that a year ago. =)

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of using a muffin pan. Your tuile cups look wonderful. Love the caramel mousse too. Great job!

Anonymous said...

Your mousse sounds absolutely delicious. Your tuiles look great.

Anonymous said...

Love that you got your kids out of bed for the snack. That's awesome.

Peabody said...

Forget the tulie, I want the mousse! Mmm.

creampuff said...

Look at you twirling tuiles and making caramel like that! You rock!

Dewi said...

Oh my, I really like that blue tuiles. Seems like you really had a good time making this.
Well done.
Cheers,
Elra

Sara said...

I love this! I wish I'd thought of the muffin pan to shape mine. And mousse? Yum!

Nina Timm said...

You did not give up and that is cool!!!
Ps, can I ask you a question, please. How did you add the index at the top of your blog...I am hopeless with html. You can email me if you wish to nina(at)boxpac.co.za
. Thank you

Shaheen said...

Oooh I love the twisted tuile. And I also like the idea of using a muffin pan to mould the tuile. Looks brilliant!

Megan said...

You are the reigning queen of Supermom - able to clean the house, put kids to bed and make tuiles and caramel and mousse all in a single night!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic work, I love all the variations in shapes you tried!

Alpineberry Mary said...

I experienced some of the same issues your did with the shaping. But looks like your second attempt turned out great. Nice work!

breadchick said...

OH Jen! Those look so wonderful and what a good idea about using your muffin pan.

Elle said...

Love the boys eatig the 'antlers' with the mousse...great visual...and your tuiles are really pretty.

zorra said...

Well done, a real daring baker!

Unknown said...

Glad the DBer's have pulled you out of a comfort zone! That was a good idea to put the tuiles INSIDE a muffin tin...that might have worked a little better that the bottom of a glass! Beautiful job!

Camille said...

The mousse sounds delicious! I like the little chocolate twists. What a good idea!

Diana said...

I used a muffin pan too! They made a great bowl shape. Glad it all finally worked out for you, I love it when that happens.