DB January Challenge: Sleeping Beauty and Stars

When Natalia told me about this challenge I was glad, anything is simple like tuile.

I've still made tuile (as you can see here) and I love this cookie so much.

But...having three children (going to school and then to swimming pool and baby parties), a stressing full-time work and a husband everything is difficult and hard to do, tuile too of course.

So these are my "last minute" tuile.

I've made on date but singing lullaby to my children I felt asleep like Sleeping Beauty (one of my daughter's favourite princess) I apologize.

Being so simple I've tried to play with shapes and thinking on it I've reproduced one of Christmas decoration I've brought from Crate and Barrel in Chicago.

I didn't use any kind of stencil just cut with a cookie cutter star shaped when half-cooked and put into the oven again to brownish borders.

One of amusing idea would be cutting cookies in tangram shapes, it can be a funny play for children and breakfast (and adult too).

As dip, we're on winter here in Italy and I choose something I adore: pear (I've used a variety so called Decana) stuffed in a teaspoon of butter and Demerara and flamed with Passito di Pantelleria a very particular liquorous and sweet wine perfect for dessert.

It remember Ice wine and it's produced in a small island of Sicily called Pantelleria only from zibibbo white grapes.

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.

Recipe:

Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)

Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)

60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)

2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)

65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour

1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice

Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 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.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up.

(This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly.

Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter.

Leave some room in between your shapes.

Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.

Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape.

These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again.

(Haven’t tried that).

Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open.

The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….