This was technically not my first time making tuiles, but I'd rather not revisit the utter failure that was my previous attempt. Different recipe, different time. This week, since I had a couple of egg whites sitting in the fridge, I decided to try Sherry Yard's chocolate-dipped tuile recipe (from
Baking by the Yard). I ended up filling the tuiles instead with a whipped chocolate ganache flavored with the tiniest bit of peppermint extract (I've learned the hard way how potent it is). I daresay it worked, though my whipped ganache recipe was a little guess-y.
I was probably a little crazy to take on tuiles this week, with temperatures keeping around 95: after the tuiles have baked (about 4 at a time) you open the oven door, set the baking sheet on it, and work with them that way so they stay warm and malleable. Then you do the other three batches. After each batch you have to wrap the cookies quickly around the handle of a wooden spoon (they're hot of course) so that they hold their characteristic shape. I have pretty callused/heat resistant fingers, so this wasn't too hard. Shaping is one of the top 5 things in the kitchen that tend to provoke my temper---I'm clumsy and don't follow written directions as well as pictures and/or videos---so I was surprised that these went so smoothly. The one hitch was that I didn't bake them long enough; scared by her warning that overbaking makes them difficult to shape, I didn't let them go longer than the indicated time even though they weren't quite golden brown, so the cookies never really crisped up. I'll remember that next time, and there
will be a next time---this is a great way to use up whites left over from custard-based ice creams, and it doesn't involve finicky whipping! I'll take a hot kitchen over egg whites that refuse to whip right any day.
For the ganache filling, which I piped in with a makeshift pastry bag, I used about 2 oz. of Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate and 1/3 cup of heavy cream, with a tiny splash of mint extract and maybe 1/4 tsp. vanilla. You just chop the chocolate, heat the cream in the microwave at intervals of 30 seconds til hot, then pour it over the chocolate, whisking til smooth. Add the extracts, put it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, then take it out and whip it with a mixer til light and fluffy. This results in an interesting texture that dissolves in your mouth instantly. Very tasty.
Also this week I tried a David Lebovitz recipe (
The Perfect Scoop) I've been eyeing for a while: blackberry lime sorbet. I don't usually get too excited about sorbet---yay, it tastes like fruit with all the nutritional value (painstakingly) strained out---but this combination sounded compelling. It did
not disappoint. I'm fairly in love with this sorbet. Unapologetically tart, it has the perfect balance of sweetness, is a gorgeous, appetizing color, and somehow feels more substantial than a mixture of fruit puree, sugar syrup, and lime juice. (Lots of lime juice.)
I couldn't bear throwing out all the seedy pulp strained from the blackberry mixture, so with the blender already out I threw it in with about a cup of plain whole milk yogurt and about 3 Tbsp of fresh mint. It doesn't hold a candle to the sorbet recipe, but it makes a nice texture contrast, as shown below, and was a decent way to use up the pulp. Leftover tuiles, which I (re)crisped in the oven first, were a perfect foil. This photo is bad, because you can barely see the gorgeous dark purple sorbet sneaking through my attempt at granita on top.
This is the mixture before freezing:
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