January DB Challenge: Tuiles

Have I mentioned how much the boyfriend loves cannoli? Because dear lord, does that boy love cannoli. Fresh, storebought, frozen, any way he can get them. I, on the other hand, had never had a cannoli before meeting him. And boy, did I not know what I was missing. Crunchy shell, creamy filling, bits of chocolate or pistachio... Those Italians know what they're doing with desserts.

So when I found out that the Daring Baker challenge for the month was tuiles (sweet! savory! cheesy! nougat-y!), I only had one idea - cannoli. Now, that required some jury rigging, because I was not buying cannoli forms in order to shape the shells. Enter: an empty paper towel core. I cut off a 3 inch section, cut it in half lengthwise (so you have two, well, yule log shaped pieces of cardboard), and rolled up one of the halves so that the diameter was around 3/4". A bit of strong packing tape wrapped around the whole thing keeps it in shape and keeps the tuiles from sticking while forming them. The tuiles were spread out using a 2 1/2" stencil that I cut out of cardboard from a cereal box.


Technical things aside, these were amazing. I only made the sweet tuiles, but they were just too good - crunchy, slightly sweet, and scented with almond because I used almond extract instead of vanilla extract. Filled with a mixture of ricotta, powdered sugar, a dash of vanilla, and a generous sprinkling of mini chocolate chips, they definitely didn't last long. As in, I had one, and the boyfriend had the rest. In about 3 minutes.

I'd say that was a success, wouldn't you? Thank you Zorra and Karen for picking such a fantastic recipe! Even though it wasn't the bread I was hoping for :)


The red tape: 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 Angelique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.