This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe is a lesson in why it always pays to read the recipe all the way through before you go to start it. I’m definitely getting better about this but sometimes if I am on a roll (i.e. I have successfully made 5 different dishes, both sweet and savoury, like I did on the day I made these), I get a little complacent cocky and feel I can do anything don’t need to follow the recipe as it’s written. Except you know, when I do. Like when I am making Almond-Orange Tuiles, (p 404).
My first error was not reading that the batter needed to rest overnight in the fridge. Since I was making this on a Sunday (afternoon, no less, not even morning!) I didn’t have time to rest this in the fridge then make it on the Monday. Well, I did but since it’s so dark so early these days, there was no way I would get a decent photo (it’s dark by the time I get home from work and I can only shoot my pictures in natural light) so I decided 2-3 hours in the fridge would be ok. Actually I think this was not really the problem but I should definitely have read ahead to make the batter the day before…
After that I decided to pay close attention to the recipe ignore more important tips from the recipe when I felt that even though Dorie says you don’t need parchment or Silpat on the baking tray, I used Silpat anyway. Well then… The look on Neil’s face said it all when he peeked in the oven:
(also, yes, I have large chunks of almond in here. Not sure why I felt I needed to chop the almonds by hand – it was a pain – but for whatever reason, I didn’t use the food processor which I should have done. Next time).
I told him that it was going to be fine, thinking this would bake and harden enough to break it up like a brittle. Err… not so much. Also, yes I clearly put too many on the tray at once (9 if you’re curious). Since this used up just over 1/2 of the dough, I thought I might as well try again. Removed Silpat and put way less on the tray… And wouldn’t you know? It worked! Just like Dorie said!
I used a tiny offset spatula and a paring knife to slide the tuiles off the tray and let them sit on the rolling pin for a while (they were definitely still too soft to move after 1 minute like it says in the recipe – perhaps because I didn’t rest the batter).
Feeling encouraged by this, I made the rest and ended up with 12 perfect tuiles. See what happens when you follow the recipe to a T? 😉 And yes, they tasted great. Butter makes things taste good.
PS: It’s been a long time since the Problems/ Questions post on French Fridays with Dorie had this many questions. #justsayin
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Ha! I definitely did the walk of shame of this one.
I didn’t think to use an offset spatula – I DO have one of those 🙂
The ones that did come out for you look beautiful.
Yours came out beautiful and yes, I never seem to read the recipe ahead of time to know that something has to be left over night. Fortunately, I decide to make these on a Saturday and had Sunday to bake them when I realized they need to be refrigerated. I followed her direction exactly on this one too, except I use almond flour, but the same weight. Really an interesting cookie.
This is what I have to say. First, Mardi, I did not know that an off set spatula was called an off set spatula. I have one, just didn’t know it had a particular name. (Yeah, I have no shame to admit that.) I followed all your tips in P&Q’s this week to end up with okay-looking tuiles. Since I am heavy-handed and there’s is nothing fragile, elegant, light or tiny about me, I knew this would be an uphill baking battle for me. I did use, per your tip, Bob’s Red Mills Almond Meal/Flour. I fought those babies to get them off the tray to the rolling pin. I think your second try produced some beauties. Bravo to you. I probably will not return to pages 404-5 for a do-over.
I am also taking the walk of shame! At least you persevered; I gave up. Your tuiles look lovely Mardi!
Lovely color and awesome results! I have left over batter, might just give it a go during the weekend.
Agreed, butter does make things taste good. Such a pretty and delicate looking cookie. Happy that you went back for a second attempt on these.
Forget your pan of shame! The ones that worked, worked beautifully! Mine never hardened, even after they cooled. Beats me.
Yours are gorgeous! Glad you persevered!
A bakery near my house makes these and I have to get some
every time I stop in, even if I’m there for a baguette.
Never tried making them at home, but now I think I have to try!
I followed the P&Q, but still didn’t feel like I was successful. Yours are so beautifully golden. I’m glad you got a few perfect ones to enjoy.
They are so cute! Never would have guessed you had any problems (except for the photo of the full-tray spread…oopsie!) Well done.
I think the best lessons take place when a recipe doesn’t work the first time around. It gives you added insight in understanding what needs to happen for it to actually work. The second batch looks perfect though!
I haven’t tried these yet, but I’m definitely benefitting from the experiences of everyone else in the group. And yes, it’s important to read (and follow) the recipe, a lesson few of us manage to take completely to heart. (Ghosts of past kitchen disasters dancing in my head.)
I can’t believe I made this comment and then went ahead and misread the recipe when I finally caught up on this recipe.
I followed the directions exactly for my first two trays, and they cemented on to my cookie sheets and would not let go!! I decided to use parchment after researching online. It worked great and they came out lovely! Yours are beautiful! What kind of pan are you using? Is it a non stick? I actually had to scrap the Tuiles off the cookie sheet. Have a wonderful weekend, Mardi!
Hi Kathy,
It’s a heavy, non-stick pan (from France because I’m that person bringing 6 baking trays home in my hand luggage!) – I need to try this with parchment on a regular pan. The Silpat was way too thick to cook them…
Well done! I didn’t have time to rest batch 2, so they would not shape, although looking like an approximation of the real thing.
After the iniital raised eyebrow and then “oohs” and “ahhs” at the final product, we had the all-important Friday night taste test.
Well, I can say I’m most pelased Mardi persevered! Apart from the oddly large occasional chunks of almost (what were you thinking?), these tasted divine. Nice and thin, as they should be – enabling gobbling of four or five in one sitting. 😉
*pleased, even. Apologies for the typo!
I will definitely try these again using the parchment paper, they are so delicious. It was a challenge, but you did get it right. They look beautiful and quite fancy.
Hmm, I wonder why the cookies congealed together on the silpat? I used parchment on mine and that didn’t happen. Hmm….
So happy to have found this site. A friend requested I make Dorie’s tuiles for an upcoming dinner party. As usual, I searched the net for troubleshooting before I began. I did a test run early this morning, and happy to say that they are awesome. I followed the directions with exception of choosing to bake on parchment and paid special attention to the detail of refrigerating overnight thanks to your post! A yummy crisp success! My biggest challenge was steadying the rolling pins. Owning many rolling pins allowed me to quickly shape 8 tuiles and move onto the next batch quickly.
So glad my post was helpful for you! A lot of us struggled with this one!