Tropical Coconut Wafer & Ice Cream Cones

And am back! Please don't tell me you have forgotten me! While I had planned a whole list of things to do, bake, write about and build a bursting folder of posts no less for the post-break blogging, I have actually been able to do very little of it. I am as usual huffing and puffing away to compile a post - some things never change! Like the tendency for Cakes And More showing on me - every now and then. Me trying hard to knock-off those exx...tra kilos while also struggling to resist the pull of my oven, bread machine and the rest of the baking toys. And of course the itch to blog. Perpetually confused me is now more confused about what I can bake and blog about as I have temporarily no luxury of tasting and testing calorie dense treats, cake or dessert very often. I really need to watch what I eat and how often I indulge...

But I am so thankful for the small portion of dessert I am allowed every week, reserved for my bakes predictably. This week's calories found themselves in these delicate coconut tuiles. I love coconut and these wafers are great on their own. And the delectable thought of filling it with some fruit and ice-cream giving it a more tropical twist was too good to resist! 

Eat the tuiles as is or poise them over some pannacotta. Add a dash of rum to the batter if you are a rum person and serve with whipped cream or pineapple or mango ice cream and some diced tropical fruit you will be transported to Hawaii!! 

Don't shy away from baking tuiles like I have earlier thinking that these are tricky to make. If you can separate eggs and can time baking your cookies, you certainly must try these! Don't let the part of coaxing the hot wafers from the baking sheet and shaping them in nano-seconds deter you. Usually, if your wafers harden before you have a chance to shape them, you pop them back in the oven to soften and then shape. Well, I simply bake all my tuiles, let them cool. Then I put them one at a time in the oven for about 30 seconds to soften them and then shape them. Easier this way and no burning your fingers!

 From Alice Medrich's Chewy, Gooey, Crispy and Crunchy Cookies. I want to try more tuiles from here!


Equipment - Baking trays or pans or cookie sheets, silicon baking mats, heavy duty aluminum foil dull side up. I use my baking trays lined with aluminum foil, dull side up. I used 2 trays and lots of foil as I needed to use a fresh piece of foil for each batch. A very thin metal spatula if you want to attempt to remove the hot cookies from the foil, cooling rack.
 
Ingredients: To make forty 3'' tuiles ( I made a quarter of the recipe to make about 10 tuiles)

Unsalted butter - 3 tablespoons / 42 grams approximately, melted and still very warm (not hot)
Unsweetened coconut (peeled and grated dry copra) - 1 cup / 3 oz / 84 grams approximately
Sugar, fine - 2/3 cup / 4.625 oz / 130 grams approximately
Egg whites - 3 large / 90 grams
All purpose flour - 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon / 1.5 oz /  42 grams
Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
Rum - 1 tablespoon ( I used vanilla extract)

Procedure:  If baking cookies immediately, preheat oven to 150 degrees C / 300 degree F.  If baking cookies later, just mix the batter as mentioned below and refrigerate.

If you would be using foil, measure the size needed to line your tray or pan. Cut carefully making sure you do not cause major creases. If there are any small creases smooth it out. Wrinkles will mar the appearance of the cookies. Line your pan or pans if using multiple ones. You could mark the outline of a 3'' circle with a food grade pencil. Grease the foil with butter lightly but thoroughly. Large cookies sheets will be great, I used my 9'' square tin to bake 2 at a time.

In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients till well blended. We are not whipping up a volume here, just simple whisking. The batter will look very thick and you will wonder how this could be actually spread thin. Let the batter rest for at least 10 minutes or keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I used the batter the next day. The batter firms up on refrigerating and loosens up a bit after it comes out of the fridge.

Drop level teaspoons of batter 2 inches apart on the prepared foil. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter evenly in 3 inch rounds or oval or other shape about 1/16 of an inch. This will look like some egg whites here and there and the coconut here and there. If using multiple trays, you could spread the batter and keep the trays in the oven one by one. If using the same pan for the next set of tuiles, make sure the pan is cool before you spread the batter.

Bake for 10 to 11 minutes. The time depends on the thickness of the cookies. Watch very carefully,  bake till the cookies are mostly golden with splotches of white here and there. Rotate pans if using a large oven and multiple sheets. If the cookies are not baked thoroughly, they won't be completely crisp when they cool. A test batch must tell you the approximate baking time. I baked for about 11 minutes.

Remove the cookies sheets or pans from the oven and set them down. Keep your rolling pin / cup right beside the oven if you want to curve them or shape them into cups. You won't have time to turn, go to the table and then shape.You are supposed to slide a very thin metal spatula when the cookie is still hot and soft. Then shape it immediately into a curve or cigar and cool it on a rack. If the cookies harden before you shape, pop them back in the oven for a few seconds, they will soften, you can shape again. I normally let them cool and harden, then peel the foil from underneath the tuiles very gently taking care not to break the tuiles. After baking all of the cookies, I put one cookie at a time in the oven (the underside of the cookie facing up, so that when you pick up the cookie and shape it into a cone, you have the right side facing outward) on the sheet for 30-40 seconds till they became very soft and flexible. Then shaped them. They harden very very quickly as in a matter of 4-5 seconds, so its really important that you work very quickly.  Timing is everything here! And psstt...even if you can't get them pretty and shaped, they will still taste delicious!

Please note: Be very careful as you measure the flour. Excess flour can make the tuiles tough. If using the same pan for the next set of tuiles, make sure the pan is cool before you spread the batter. You could reuse the aluminum foil if its completely smooth and clean.

Next time you have guests who are not chocolate lovers and you scratch your head about what you could make for dessert (happens to me all the time!) try these wafers and ice cream!