January Daring Bakers... Tuiles!

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda 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.

Go to The Daring Bakers!

Okay so that was the obligatory blog-checking line, I hope? Well anyway we get to make tuiles! Ive been wanting to make these for a while now, but I had simply added then to the "later" category in the back of my head! Well... now! Ordinarily tuiles are quite simple, but I had to crazy it up! These kinds of challenges are my favorite kind, there is a lot of freedom and it does not involve chocolate! A baker not liking chocolate? I know, I know.

I really wanted to do something in season fruit-wise, so I chose blood oranges! I love me some blood oranges. The first time I ever had them I was in Sicily and ordered a glass of fresh blood orange juice. Yum. Well, hope you think these are creative! My additions are in red.

Sweet tuiles: Cardamom tuiles with coconut mousse and blood orange jellies.
Savory tuiles: Marmite tuiles with avocado mousse and flaked salmon.

Sweet Tuiles from “The Chocolate Book” by Angélique Schmeinck
65 g softened butter
60 g sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar dash vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 t cardamom powder
65 g sifted AP flour
Oven: 350F
Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an offset spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Bake in a preheated oven for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still very warm, so place the baking sheet on a pulled out oven rack and shape while in front and slightly inside the oven.

Coconut Mousse by me
1/2 c heavy cream
1 T sugar
dash coconut extract
1.5 T unsweetened coconut flake
Whip cream, add sugar and extract then add coconut.

Blood Orange Jellies by me
1 c blood orange juice, strained of all pulp
1 T sugar
1 packet gelatin
Bloom gelatin on blood orange juice for 10 min. Microwave in 10 second bust and stir until dissolved. Add sugar, dissolve. Pour into am 8in round cake pan and plane in refrigerator overnight. Cut into 1/4 in cubes with a very sharp knife.

For the sweet ones I made a square stencil (from a cardboard milk carton) and when they were done baking I folded three corners in and left one flat. Pipe in coconut mousse and decorate with blood orange jellies. Garnish with blood orange segments and coconut. Pretty simple. These are wonderful little cookies and simple! The stenciling takes the most time but after you get the hang of it is no biggie.

Savory Tuiles from "The French Laundry Cookbook" by Thomas Keller
65 g AP flour
1 T plus 1 t sugar
1 t kosher salt 1 T marmite
114 g unsalted butter, softened
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
Oven: 400F
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the softened butter until it is completely smooth and mayonnaise-like in texture. Using a stiff spatula or spoon, beat the egg whites into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated and smooth. 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. 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. Then run the spatula over the entire stencil to remove any excess batter. 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. 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).

Avocado Mousse by me
1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 mashed avocado
1 t lemon juice
Whip cream and add mashed avo and lemon juice. Add a dash of white pepper and salt to taste. Whip for 10 more seconds to combine.

For these I simply made a circle stencil and when they were cooked I put then into a mini-muffin tin to for nice ripples. I am GLAD I chose these to do round b/c they are finicky as hell! They will over cook so fast in the oven, I wasted a whole pan of then b/c they got too done. They are harder to shape if they are over done. I feel the amount of butter is excessive, so I added more flour and they were still oily when they were done. I know the butter:flour ratio is such maybe to offset the lack of sugar in the savory recipe, but man! Oh well it worked out well in the end. I just piped in the mousse and put a piece of salmon on top, garnished with smoked paprika.

Now for the pics!

Blood oranges.

Stenciling the sweet tuiles.

See how thin they are?
Assembly of the sweet tuiles. Be careful! Yes, that is an ice cube tray! Lol.
Sweet tuiles done!
I had to showcase the insane amount of snow we got.

Close up. Yummm,

Savory tuiles.

Close up.

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Traditional sunday roast, English style.

So I hope to be getting a science research or health care job in England in the spring. PS if anyone can help me with this I will make you lots of goodies!!! Anyhow, this has got me thinking about the food (because heck... its me!) over there. Now a lot of people think that English food is bland boring food. Not so. I have been there twice and I would say its on par with American cuisine, but less fast-foody. They are getting there though, if they arent careful. England has a long history and many classic dishes, the most comical to me being stargazer pie. They have a mecca of different cuisines surrounding them (ie Europe) and plenty of immigrants to bring delicious recipes with them (curries?). BUT there are classics too, well relatively speaking. When I think of English food I think of: PG Tipps, scones, bangers and mash, fish and chips, curry, marmite, McVities anything, roasts, full English brekkie, pasties, bubble and squeak, banoffe... the list goes and goes. Well, I decided lets try some of it before I get there. I have had several of these things, but never a roast dinner. Now let me tell you, I am not the kind of person who eats a lot of meat, let alone big hunks of it. This is precisely the reason I decided to make this dinner. I am more a fresh, light, bright flavors sort of person. I added my own little twists as you will see...

Traditional Sunday Roast, English Style
Salad with spinach, peppers, cukes and tomato.
An olive plate with kalamata, picholine and castelvetrano (my FAVE) olives and brie, goat cheese and cheddar.

Roast beef.
Roast potatoes.
Braised brussel sprouts.
Yorkshire puddings.
Pan gravy.

Meyer lemon cake with eggless lemon curd and Italian butter cream... and PG Tipps tea. :)

The olive plate. I ate all the castelvetrano olives, oops (well, the one bigger green one on the right is the last one). Castelvetrano olives are mild and way less salty than regular olives. I looove them. Aged brie on left, honeyed goat cheese on right.

Roast beef. My family came over so we started to dish it and then I remembered I needed a pic. Lol. Method: used a 2.6 lb top sirloin, night before cut slits and add garlic cloves inside, then rub with seasoned salt. The next day, let rest one hour to come to room temp, then turn oven to 500F. Put in a 9x13 pan: mushroom, celery, carrot and onion scraps and a couple bay leaves, a couple thyme sprigs and a sprig of rosemary. Add 3-4 cups low sodium beef broth. Put on bottom rack of oven. Set roast on top of the pan ON THE RACK above so there will be nice heat circulation and the pan will catch the dripping juice (of which there isn't much). Cook at 500F for 15 mins the bump down to 325 for about 1-1.5 hours. Cook until the internal temp reads 135F, that will give you a med rare center. To make the gravy: strain the pan with the drippings into a bowl, discard scraps. Make a roux on the stove top by heating 3T butter and 3T flour over med heat until light golden. Slowly add the juices from the pan (about a cup at a time) and whiskwhiskwhisk! Drop heat to med-low and simmer for a few mins to thicken. Done deal.

Yorkshire puddings. 4 eggs, 1/2 c milk, 1/2 t salt, 2 c flour. Mix until looks like thick pancake batter. Heat oven to 425F. Put 1t oil (I used EVOO but you can use any oil, shortening or fat like bacon grease) in each of twelve muffin tins. Put into oven until HOT and almost smoking. Pull out oven rack and add some batter into each muffin cup. It should sizzle! Push rack back in and bake for about 25mins, until tall and golden, with some browning on the edges. Mine are hollow, you just cant see it.

Roasted potatoes. I used Nigella Lawson's recipe, with mods. Peel some potatoes. cut into large chunks. Biol for mins, drain. Put into pot and shake up to bash up the edges a little. Add 2T course cornmeal and shake again. Spread onto greased baking sheet and bake at 425F for 45-60mins. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. I also made Brussel sprouts but no picture of those.
Here is my meyer lemon cake! YUMMMM. I served it with some PG Tipps tea. Cake recipe from the accidental scientist, its a little dense, but maybe I did something wrong? I wonder how hers turned out? I think next time Ill just make it 4 eggs and no meringue, and add more leavening. Eggless meyer lemon curd (b/c I cant eat very much yolk or my intestines hate me): 1/4c water, 1/2c sugar, 3T cornstarch, 1/2 c meyer lemon juice. Microwave for 3 mins, until thick and... well, goopy. Then add 1T meyer lemon zest and another 1/4c meyer lemon juice. Let cool and whip until spreadable. I made IMBC (italian meringue buttercream) from Joe Pastry, which is kick ass! Go to the site and be amazed, for real. Don't forget the crumb coat on the cake people! It sort of sticks the crumbs into the cake so you have a nice, crumbless frosting job. Crumb coat-fridge-real coat of IMBC-smooth with a hot spatula. I made 2-8'' cakes and cut those into halves, so I would have 4 layers. I smeared lemon curd thickly onto the top and bottom layers and raspberry jam into the middle one. There will be some leveling off of the sides vertically, so you get easily frostable sides. I made some candied meyer lemons to decorate with!
You could use regular lemons, I just had a little zest and A LOT of juice leftover from my limoncello batch, 18 lemons and 1500mL of vodka!

Buttercream. I could eat SPOONS AND SPOONS of this stuff!!! Its really addicting, and totally hides how much butter is in it! Wolf in sheeps clothes? If you're going to make it get organic butter please! PS note errant crumb in cake photo... dammit!

What you cant see under the cake is... HAAAAARRY POTTER!!! Hehe. Here are the layers for you. The family said the cake was divine, sort of like a light pound cake. BUT pound cake... and lemon curd... and buttercream?!?! Noooo. I wanted a light, airy, delicate cake and this was a bit heavy. I even used cake flour people!

Well, that's the wrap up for my Sunday roast dinner! Hope you liked it and if you have any Qs or suggestions... please comment! GObama!

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Kumquat Marmalade.

So who doesn't love citrus of ANY kind? Not me! I crave anything fresh and juicy, with that tangy, tart, sweet feeling. Mmmmm. Grapefruit is my fave, kumquats are my second. Due to their limited availability they surpass grapefruit for about two weeks while I eat waaaay more kumquats than was ever intended! Sort of like the Pluto and Neptune for the 8th and 9th planets (I knooooow that analogy isnt technically applicable here, but I am sure Pluto feels lonely out there not being a planet anymore... like an outcast). Be nice to the little ex-planet people. Anyway, I made some quicky marmalade that will definitely satisfy my craving year round, and also adds to my arsenal of homemade Xmas goodies (homemade limocello is next)! The sweet, super-citrusy skin and the sour flesh... mmmmm.

I would also like to note that this was my FIRST ever canning adventure, and it was a little tedious b/c I dont have all the proper stuff, and my pot needs to be about 3 inches deeper, but I had success. Definitely next time, I will have acquired a better pot from the flea market and all will be well... look for that one later.

Here's how:

1. Basically take some kumquats, slice and de-seed (the tedious part) and throw about 75% of them into a blender and add a little water. Blend.

2. Slice the rest reallllly thin, and add all this to a pot with some water and sugar and a little sure gel or pectin.

3. Boil until thick, skimming the foam.

4. Put into cans, and commence the canning process of your choice.



Kumquats in the blender.

Boiling away.



Into the cans, chilling on the countertop.

Yummy on my scones... coming up!

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