Daring Bakers: Tuiles du Coeur

This month's Daring Bakers Challenge involved a lot of... equipment.

We made "tuiles" and no, I don't have a good grasp on how to pronounce that, though the French teacher said "Tool" was accurate. It just feels wrong, I suppose.

Here's the description taken from the Challenge on the Daring Bakers Website:
"Traditionally, tuiles are thin, crisp almond cookies that are gently molded over a rolling pin or arched form while they are still warm. Once set, their shape resembles the curved French roofing tiles for which they're named."

On to the equipment:

Silicon Baking Mat
Stencil
Offset Spatula
Tuile pan

I had none of these things, so I went out and bought 50% of them, the Silicon Baking Mat ($10 at Weggies and the Stencil ($18 for a stencil, plus $12 shipping, because not a single store in Syracuse had anything close.) I declined to buy the Offset Spatula and the Tuile pan.

For my 50% efforts, I got halfsies returns. My Tuiles have a pretty heart shape (gracias Stencil) and they slid right off the pan (merci Silicon Baking Mat). HOWever, the tuiles were a b**** to spread on the pan due to my inadequate, floppy, and flat spatula. Furthermore, they never achieved a lovely curvature, since I didn't have a curvy pan.

Not surprisingly, I managed to get one beauteous batch and one batch that burned. Half perfect hearts, half brown and crusty... Portents for Valentine's Day this year? Hope not. I offer you the loveliest of the photos here, with one of the better hearts displayed on a bit of vanilla ice cream dotted with raspberry sauce. Tres delicieux.

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.

TWD: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

These muffins were tasty... but nothin' to write home about. I made them with black bean chili flavored with chipotle and smoked paprika, topped with local cheddar. The chili was amazing, though! You can see more samples of corn muffins here.

Tangelo and Lime Pie

This pie was the perfect winter dessert: tart, creamy, sweet filling, and crumbly, rich, pecan and graham cracker crust. Yum.

But tangelos are very seedy; be prepared to pick them out! (Or just use clementines like the recipe calls for...)

TWD: Rewind Granola Grabbers

I've had a rather busy few days... school starting up again, and several incidents involving fighting, injured, and visiting pets. Now that these have passed, I will share with you my Tuesdays with Dorrie rewind: I made Granola Grabbers instead of the pear tart.

These tasty little nubbins hit the spot for school lunches, gifts for friends, and a stolen treat for the dog I am sitting.

To enjoy others' interpretations of this week's true challenge, go here.