Ridiculous recipes

I know this is a matter of opinion, but in the November Saveur on page 104 is a recipe for fork-shaped tuiles.

It requires the baker to use an x-acto knife to cut out a fork-shaped stencil.

After spreading each stencil with the tuile batter you lift from the fork end "carefully". After baking, you must also "carefully" remove them from the silpat-lined sheet pan.

Cookies shown are not attractive at all: unevenly browned and quite frankly, ridiculous looking.

At one place I worked we did that kind of thing all the time - and the Chef would go crazy because inevitably someone would cut into the Silpat. And if you have a scored, cut, and bumpy Silpat, those cookies just don't release.

I saw those forks, too, and thought they were totally absurd. And ugly!

About those forks...I'd never make them, but I was kinda hoping my Martha-Stewart-loving daughter would.

Here's the thing. I glance at a lot of mags that come to my house. I remembered those forks. They made an impression. Odd? Yes. Ugly. Maybe. Hard to make? Way too hard for me. But they're kind of fun-looking, and they would make an impression, which is part of what dessert is all about.

I'm not defending this recipe, I'm just saying: I've never met a cookie I didn't like.

Hammond

here's a way of making them waaaaaay easier:

get yourself a nice, flat piece of plastic - even a thin piece of cardboard (such as the type used in cereal boxes or dry cleaners to keep shirts nice and straight). Make a stencil of a fork, a spoon, what-have-you. Cut it out.

Have your tuile batter ready to go. It is a snap to make - really easy. Place your stencil on the silpat. Glop on a little batter, smooth out so that it completely fills in the stencil - thinner is better with tuile batter. You don't want a big blob of tuile batter ruining the integrity of your stenciled cookie.

repeat, repeat, repeat.

Bake, and when still warm, if you must use a knife to trim the cookie, do it then. It will become brittle quickly. You can first remove the cookie from the silpat (when it has firmed a bit) and slide it onto a sheet pan that has been kept warm/hot - cut it on the sheet pan.

See, not so hard. Your daughter could do it in her sleep.

David Hammond wrote:Martha-Stewart-loving daughter

DH,

You know there are counselors for this, Right?

Flip

Flip wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Martha-Stewart-loving daughter

DH,

You know there are counselors for this, Right?

Flip

Yes, but only if you WANT to correct it.

Hammond