Tuiles aux Amandes (Almond Tuiles)

Random Wednesday....

zero Number of wisdom teeth I have left as of last week. 

one Sensation - painful (especially when you've forgotten to buy the painkillers after the anaesthetic wears off!)

two Words - Thank you! For your lovely comments in the previous post (and sorry that some of them were removed in the recent blogger stuff up that you probably know too well). 

three Mums with blogs which I follow (and meant to have shared in the last Mother's Day post!) I don't have kids myself but I always look forward to reading what these ladies have to share.

Stefanie from Ni Hao Y'all

Adeye from No Greater Joy Mom

Lorraine from With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart

four Number of sewing and wrench/hammer-like tools I saw my dentist putting into my mouth. Dentists are not in my good books, y'know?

five Years since I visited Paris - I've been daydreaming about it all day today. Not that I particularly have itchy feet for traveling at the moment, but listening to Le Festin from Ratatouille makes me want to fly to there right now. 

six Things that take my breath away. 

- Andrea Bocelli's voice

- Orange sunsets

- Photographs which evoke certain emotions which cannot be put into words

- Undeserved kindness and understanding

- Running (although it's more like panting)

- Pleasant surprises (like a box with a puppy inside *hint hint*. I'm not sure who I'm hinting at sadly!)

seven Number of times I've listened to Le Festin since the beginning of this blog post. You see, I don't get bored very easily. I'm about to click replay now. 

Ok, so you don't need me to tell you that almond is good for you. Lots of vitamin E and good fats for a healthy heart. What's not to love about it? Try and have a fist sized amount of almonds a day but don't over consume them or you might have problem fitting into that pair of pants. Just being frank!

So seriously, go nuts for them!

These almond tuiles were made on a whim on a weeknight. I wanted something without too much flour and butter. Nothing too heavy. Something crispy. Something light. Something to go with a cup of tea. 

And these are the perfect answer.

I would recommend that you make these tuiles thinner than mine (as photographed) so that they'd be even crispier and bake faster. Don't be afraid to break the almond slices into small pieces too with the back of your fork.

Almond Tuiles

Adapted from Pierre Herme

Makes 25-30 (I only made 20 because mine were thicker)

• 70g granulated sugar (I used 50g)
• 40g egg white
• few drops vanilla essence
• 125g almond slices
• 15g melted butter (around 1 tbsp)
• 10g cake flour (around 1tbsp)

1. Combine the sugar, egg white and vanilla essence in a large bowl. Stir with a rubber spatula.

2. Add the almond slices into the bowl and mix gently as to not break the slices.

3. Add the melted butter into the mixture and stir to combine.

4. Leave this mixture at room temperature for 1 hour (remember to cover in plastic wrap!)

5. Sift the flour into the mixture and stir gently to incorporate fully. Leave this at room temperature for 30 minutes. 

6. On parchment paper (or any baking paper), spoon the almond mixture into a circle as thinly as you can, about 6cm in diameter. I made a stencil (6cm diameter) to ensure that the tuile is as round as possible.

7. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 160C.

This is probably the first time in a looong time since I didn't blog on a weekend or start of the week. So I don't have to say hope y'all have or had a good weekend.

But can I just say - I hope you smile today :)