Tuiles and Tartelettes

This week has been a very busy one: hectic school mornings that makes you want to scream: "I don't want to go through this again!!" school meetings, classes, guests..... By the end of the day, the minute I put my head on my pillow I'm gone right away. Life has become so busy lately that I'm almost stealing time to be able to bake and barely finding enough time to take nice pictures. Honestly, I don't know how I could find time to make those tuiles for this month's daring bakers challenge. But, did I have a choice anyway??!!

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. At first, when I saw the month's challenge, I thought it was an easy one. Easy yet I had to find a way to make these tuiles look pretty, original and tasty. Tarts are among my favorite types of desserts to make. I love the fruity ones, with a light cream. SO, I thought about combining the two: tuiles and tarts. The result was unbelievably delicious : crunchy, creamy and sweet . The addition of all extra components made the tuiles taste richer. I put a layer of dark chocolate on the tuiles to avoid sogginess, followed by a Crème mousseline for the plain ones and a chocolate mousse for the chocolate ones.

This recipe is easy especially when you make things ahead. Many of the components could be made earlier. The tuile batter can be made and kept in the fridge for up to a week and the creme mousseline can also be made up to 3 days before, just add the heavy cream before using.
Although this challenge was made under very stressful circumstances, it turned out a pretty tasty one (which I didn't expect by the way). Tuiles are very versatile after all!!

Tuiles en Tartelettes

Tuiles

65 grams softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams sifted confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Dark and white chocoalte melted

Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil. In this case I used a stencil that I cut out using a plastic cap (big yogurt box).
Divide the batter into 2 big parts and one small. keep one part plain, add coco to the other one and color the small part into any desired color.
Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Use the colored batter to make decorations.

Bake the tuiles for for 5 to 10 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Immediately after removing them from the oven, place the round "tuiles" into the muffin pan and shape until you form a sort of cup. This step should be done one tuile at a time. If the tuiles get hard (they will very fast) put them back in the oven for few seconds and repeat. Let the cups cool.

Once cooled, brush the interior of the cups with the melted chocolate. Use white chocolate for the plain ones and dark chocoalte for the chocolate ones. Put the cups in the fridge help the chocolate set.

Chocoate Mousse

100 g dark chocolate
1/2 sheet gelatin
1/2 cup heavy cream

Melt the chocoalte over double boiler. Meanwhile, soften the gelatin in cold water. Add the soften gelatin to the melted chocolate. Mix until smooth. Se aside to cool a little bit.
whip the cream and fold it into the chocolate ( be careful not to fold the whipped cream when the chocolate is still warm otherwise the cream will melt)

Crème Mousseline:

Creme mousseline is a basic pastry cream enriched with whipped cream.

1 cup whole milk (don't use low fat versions please)
2 egg yolks
40 g granulated sugar
30 g corn starch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Heat the milk in a pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks, sugar and corn starch and mix until well combined. Gradually, add the hot milk. Put the mixture back in the pan and cook, stirring continuously (not the time to answer the phone!) until it thickens. Off heat, stir in the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let cool at room temperature then into the fridge for up to 2 days.
When ready to use, whip the cream and fold it into the COLD pastry cream.

Preparation of the tarts

Fill the cups with either the creme or the mousse decorate with berries, chocolate curls and enjoy!