Almond Tuile Cookies

Tuile recipes have intrigued me for awhile, but I have never gotten around to making any. I had the perfect opportunity last week when we were on spring break. Calvin had requested almond crème brûlée when we gave him the choice of what to make for dessert. I wanted something crunchy to go with the custards – tuiles fit the bill. And with my mother-in-law, Mary, visiting I would have extra help to shape the hot cookies.

The cookies aren’t hard to make, and they are truly impressive. They would be beautiful turned upside down and filled with ice cream – a nice dinner party dessert that would knock the socks off your guests for sure. They are crispy, fragrant with almond and a subtle hint of vanilla. I preferred the sesame seed tuiles, though the sliced almonds were a close second. The chocolate-topped ones were good, but I thought the chocolate overpowered the almond just a bit.

The original recipe called for a vanilla bean, which I didn’t have and didn’t want to go out and buy for an experimental recipe. I used vanilla extract, and threw in almond extract to go with the flavor of the crème brûlée.

Be sure to watch the cookies like a hawk. I left the kitchen, trusting the baking time in the original recipe. Mary’s nose just saved that pan – we were able to snatch them out of the oven before they burned. I shaved over five minutes off the original baking time when I tweaked the recipe. Your oven may vary from mine, so be vigilant until you see how long each pan takes to bake.

It was easy to get all the cookies shaped before they cooled, with two of us working. Calvin said he was going to help, but the lure of the computer pulled harder than baking on this particular afternoon.

If you are by yourself, you might have trouble getting them shaped fast enough. You can either do fewer per pan, or leave some of them flat. Flat ones would be pretty tucked into the top of a scoop of ice cream. Next time I think I might make them smaller, especially if I leave them flat. I expected them to be about the size of a Pringle potato chip, but they were twice that size. The cookies are on a standard sized dinner plate, to give you an idea of how big they are.

No matter what size or shape you make, your tuiles will be crunchy, crispy goodness packaged in a cookie. Add a little ice cream, custard, crème brûlée and you will be in dessert heaven.

Download or print just the recipe here.

Almond Tuiles
Adapted by The Cook’s Life from Everyday Magazine
Makes 24 large cookies

⅔ cup granulated sugar
7 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter, melted
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
½ cup sliced almonds, chopped chocolate or sesame seeds (or a combination of all three)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking liners. You can grease the baking sheets instead of using parchment, but it might be hard to get the cookies off without wrinkling them.

Mix sugar flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add butter, eggs whites and extracts and mix until smooth.

Use about a teaspoon of batter for each cookie. Do no more than 6 cookies on a sheet, leaving plenty of room between them. Use a wet finger to spread cookies into large circles, about 4 inches in diameter. Use a ruler – 4 inches might be bigger than you think. Sprinkle each cookie with your topping of choice.

Bake only one pan at a time. Bake until cookies turn golden around the edges, about 9 minutes, depending on your oven.

While cookies are baking, set up your area so you will be ready. Have a rolling pin, or two, if you have them, on a folded towel to keep it from rolling. You could also use a glass bottle or smooth glass if you don’t have a rolling pin. Set these up next to a rack or trivet for the hot pan. You will also need a thin metal spatula (I used an offset icing spatula and it worked beautifully).

When the first pan is baked, move it immediately to your work area. Quickly, but gently remove each cookie from the pan and place it on the rolling pin. Press it gently around the curve of the rolling pin and then move on to the next cookie. By the time you get two cookies done, the first should be cool enough to remove from the rolling pin, if you need the space. As the cookies start to cool they won’t be pliable enough to curve.

Note: If you don’t want to mess with the curved cookies, use you can also just leave them flat. I would recommend smaller cookies if you are doing this, with maybe a ½ teaspoon of batter for each.

Cool cookies to room temperature before eating. Store in an airtight container for several days, or freeze for longer storage.