Thursday, June 18, 2009

langues de chat (cat's tongues)

when i was young, there was a french patissier in penshurst street, roseville, which had the most wonderful sweet things. of course, there were the pastries, but there would also be little bags of almond tuiles and madeleines. dad was wonderful and indulged me; i'd choose all the goodies and go home to have tastes of a little bit of all of them.
imagine my delight when i tracked down this recipe. admittedly, they were not for almond tuiles, but they possessed the same buttery crisp deliciousness. i loved making them for dad - he'd eat them with such gusto, a little girl could never resist making them for her beloved father. i loved the way my dad ate the biscuits i made - he made me feel so special.

60 grams butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg whites (one whole egg can be used - naturally, the result is slightly different, but still very delicious)
scant 1/2 cup plain flour

preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius.
line a few baking trays with baking paper.
cream the butter and sugar together until light. whisk in the egg whites until just combined, and fold in the flour.
spoon the batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain 5mm tube.
pipe 5 cm lengths of batter on the lined trays, allowing room for spreading. tap the tray sharply on the kitchen bench to allow the mixture to spread a little.
bake for 7-9 minutes or until the edges are golden - being careful not to let the biscuits burn.

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