This orange tuile is a simple garnish that will make your desserts look restaurant-worthy. Those delicate touches can make your dish move from ordinary-looking to something special. At first sight, the tuile recipe may look challenging to make; however, let me show you just how easy this recipe is.
Orange tuile is an elegant biscuit to serve with your desserts. The core ingredients are flour, butter and sugar. Tuile is usually curved, which makes it look daunting to make, but this process is not complicated and only requires a curved surface to mould the waffers when hot. Of course, as you can see in the photographs, the tuile can be flat too. Once you have got the hang of this tuile recipe, you can be creative with the flavours to match the dish it accompanies.
I made this orange tuile to accompany my vegan orange blossom chocolate mousse. Another dessert garnish idea is my candied orange peels dipped in chocolate.
Jump to:
Ingredients
- Soft vegan butter
- Zest of half an orange
- Orange juice
- Sugar
- Flour
Instructions
First, prepare your ingredients and equipment.
Grate the zest of half an orange. I use a microplane grater.
Squeeze out the juice from the orange and set it aside.
Measure out your plain flour and sugar. You can use soft brown sugar or caster sugar. Sift the flour before use to remove any lumps.
Prepare a baking tray by lining it with parchment paper or a silicone mat. If you use parchment paper, you may need to change it between each cooking batch. I much prefer to use a silicone mat.
In a bowl, add soft or melted vegan butter. If you use melted vegan butter, the tuile batter will take longer to set in the refrigerator. The block butter should be soft enough to be easy to mix with the other ingredients. Add the grated orange zest and orange juice to the bowl.
Whisk in the sugar until it is thoroughly incorporated.
Then whisk in the flour until you have a batter consistency.
Now place the batter in your refrigerator for approximately thirty minutes until the batter firms up.
Remove the batter from the refrigerator and drop half a teaspoon onto the silicone mat or parchment paper. The batter will be thick.
Using the back of a spoon, create a thin disc of batter approximately four centimetres in diameter. Repeat this process, making six discs about three inches apart.
Pre-heat the oven (fan assisted) to 160ºC
Bake the batter discs in the oven for about six minutes or until they become golden brown.
If you would like to create curved tuile, find a suitable object to mould them. A rolling pin is ideal for this.
Now, time is of the essence if you want to create a curved tuile!
Make sure your rolling pin is ready. While the tuile is still hot and mouldable, use a spatula to carefully lift the disc and lay it onto the rolling pin, so it curves around it. Then repeat for the other discs. It may be a good idea to cook in batches of three if you are making the tuile for the first time. Note that if the tuile becomes too stiff, you can always pop them back in the oven for thirty seconds to make the discs more mouldable again.
For cooking a second batch, replace the parchment paper, or cool and wipe down the silicone mat. Repeat the process above.
Before storing, let the tuile cool down until they become stiff. If required, transfer the tuile to an airtight container for storage. Do not stack the tuile or else they will stick together. Ideally, make and use on the same day, so they are at their crispy best.
How To Video
Here is a video guide to making orange tuile
Substitutions
If you are not vegan, you can use dairy butter instead.
Variations
Why not try adding sesame seeds for more texture, flavour and colour. Add the sesame seeds after you have mixed in the flour.
Flaked almonds also work well with this orange tuile recipe. Add the almonds right at the end after the flour.
Equipment
Digital scales are essential as they give you an accurate measurement. Baking especially requires precise weight measurements, or else the final product can turn out not as expected!
I highly recommend using a silicone mat. Not only are they environmentally friendly, but they also help with easy lift-off of the tuile.
Invest in a microplane grater for your kitchen. Microplane are great for zesting, preparing garlic and ginger, and very finely grating hard cheese, among other things.
Storage
A tuile should be nice and crisp, so ideally, use them on the day you make them; however, you can store the tuile in an airtight container for up to three days. If left in the open, they will soften quickly.
The tuile batter will hold for a while, so you can store it in the refrigerator for a few days meaning you can make just enough fresh tuile for your requirements on the day. I do not recommend keeping the batter for longer than five days.
Top tip
Use block vegan butter. The spreadable one doesn't work as well.
Before you put the tuile in the oven, make sure you have cleared an area where you will place the baking tray with the mat, and have a rolling pin or glass bottle, the spatula or palette knife and a container for the tuile to hand. Once you pull them out of the oven, time is of the essence.
📖 Recipe
Orange Tuile
Equipment
- Digital scales
- Silicone mat
- Rolling Pin
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 15 gms Soft vegan butter vegan block butter
- Zest of half an orange
- 15 ml Orange juice
- 37.5 gms Sugar soft brown sugar or caster sugar
- 12.5 gms Plain flour
Instructions
- In a bowl, add the soft vegan butter. It needs to be easy to mix. If you use melted butter then the batter will take longer to set in the refrigerator.
- Add the zest of half an orange and the orange juice.
- Whisk in the sugar until incorporated.
- Whisk in the flour until completely incoraparted and you have a batter consistency.
- Refrigerate the batter for thirty minutes until firm.
- Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- Set a rolling pin or something similar to shape the tuile if you want then curved.
- Pre heat the oven to 160ºC (fan assisted) and set a rack in the middle of the oven.
- Remove the batter from the fridge and drop half a teaspoon of the batter onto the silicone mat/parchment paper. Aim for about six per mat, spacing them about three inches apart.
- Using the back of a spoon, smooth the batter thinly to form a disc about four centimetres in diameter.
- Bake in the oven for about six minutes or until golden brown.
- Once ready, immediately pull out of the oven. Using a spatula, gently remove a tuile off the silicone mat and lay it over the rolling pin or a thin bottle to give it a curved shape. Follow with the other tuile.
- Make more tuile with the rest of the batter. Make sure to cool and wipe down the silicone mat or replace the parchment paper before each batch.
- Allow the tuile to cool and stiffen. Once stiff, transfer to an airtight container.
- Store the tuile in a single layer in an airtight container. Try not to stack the tuile because they will stick together.
Food safety
In a professional kitchen, food hygiene and safety is a top priority, and from the very beginning of training, I practised good habits and routines. Of course, it is also very, very important to practice good food hygiene and safety at home. Here are some fundamental practices to adopt in the kitchen:
- Wash your hands regularly while preparing, handling and cooking food
- Wipe down counter tops and high contact points regularly
- If you cook meat and fish, do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat. Use separate chopping boards for meat and fish. Wash your chopping boards immediately after use.
- Thoroughly cook food to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods (more than 2 hours)
- Store food correctly
For more details of food hygiene and safety in the home, visit the UK Government's Food Standards Agency webpage.
Leave a Reply