Almond Tuiles and Cherry Ice Cream, Part the First: The Cookies

Forgive me, for this is going to be a strange and unsatisfying post. When I endeavored to make the tuiles and cherry ice cream, I didn't expect to make two separate posts and therefore did not plan my pictures accordingly. I just thought I would get that disclaimer out of the way and I hope you'll stick with me to the next most where you'll get the satisfaction of seeing the finished product.

When I decided to make Grandma Rose's almond tuiles, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had never eaten an almond tuile before. I hadn't even seen one! While making these, I was pretty much just thinking, "Oh, well. I guess this is right."

Ingredients
4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons all purpose flour
6 tablespoons sweet butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup chopped, blanched almonds.

If you're like me, you might have had the awful luck of not being able to find blanched almonds. Thus, here I give you the simple tutorial of how to blanch almonds all on your own.

Put the almonds in a bowl. Simple enough. Boil water in a small pot. When it comes to a rolling bowl, pour enough to just cover the almonds.

Let almonds soak for one minute and no longer.  Drain the almonds and rinse with cold water. Peel the skins off with your fingers. But seriously, just buy them blanched if you can. It will save you a ton of time.

Oh, and don't forget to chop them!

Now preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Butter a baking sheet. Beat the egg whites with salt until frothy.

Add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until mixture is stiff. Sift flour over the mixture, folding it in thoroughly but lightly.

Add butter mixed with almond extract and vanilla. Add almonds.

Fold in the butter mixture and almonds thoroughly but lightly. Drop by teaspoonfuls in mounds 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Flatten each mound into a flat circle. Bake in center of oven for 10 minutes.



Here is where I screwed up, dear readers. I forgot to take a picture of me curving the cookies. >.<

Using a spatula, remove, one at a time, and curve each piece by pressing it around a rolling pin. Let cool on a wire rack.

I had a really hard time curving these cookies. For some reason, most of mine just wouldn't hold their shape. Maybe it's because my air conditioner broke one a 106 degree day, but I finally got so frustrated that I gave up and left the majority of them flat.

A helpful hint: If they start getting to hard to curve, place back in the oven for about a minute. This will soften them up again.

So what did they come out looking like? Well, you'll just have to wait until next time when I post the recipe for the cherry ice cream (or maybe I just forgot to take a picture of the cookies on their own).

Good luck and stay patient,
Rosie