Pistachio Tuiles:

Before baking:



After:




Tuiles (pronounced Tweel) are crisp, thin cookies and are a perfect accompaniment to icecream, sorbet or can be just eaten. They are pretty easy and fun to make. You can have your kids help you too. You can make any shape you want to. The best part is when they come out of oven and are still warm, they are pliable and you can shape them as you wish.

This recipe makes about 25 to 30 cookies:

AP Flour - 1/3 cup
Confectioners sugar - 3/4 cup
Egg whites - 2 (room temperature)
Unsalted butter - 3 tbspns (melted)
Pistachio nuts - 2 tbspns - chopped
Grated zest of 1 Lemon

Using an electric mixer or a hand mixer, combine flour, sugar, lemon zest and beat at low speed to mix. add egg whites and mix just until smooth (about 30 seconds).
Add melted butter and mix until blended. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spoon a small amount of batter onto a non-stick baking sheet and with the back of the spoon spread it into a thin oval shape (or round or any shape you wish). Form 4 or 5 ovals like this and sprinkle some chopped pistachios. Bake the tuiles for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and using a wooden or metal spatula immediately drape each tuile over a rolling pin, pressing down gently so that it curves, just until set.

Completely cool the tuiles on a wire rack. If you prefer straight tuiles, just remove them from the baking sheet onto the wire rack directly. Repeat the procedure with the remaining batter.
Be sure to cool the baking sheet between batches. Use only non-stick baking sheet, or else it will stick (I tried making few tuiles on an ordinary baking sheet and they never came out!).

Recipe Source: Simply Sensational Desserts by Francois Payard