I hope everyone had a great weekend! As for me, it was such a busy weekend, many parties, many things to do with so little time. But it was all good that I got to see my old friend, her new baby, her family and some of her good friends this weekend. While the adults were catching up with the stories of our daily lives, the kids had a blast at their kiddy pools in the backyard. The weather was nice and warm, the food was delicious and comforting. I wish we could do this more often just for the sake of our sanity after many long tiring working weeks.
Anyway, back to business, I've been making ice cream like a mad woman ever since the ice cream maker came to my possession. I have churned out buckets after buckets of the smooth, creamy frozen treat, but the down side is that I got left with gazillion egg whites. Of course, god forbid if anything should go to waste, so what to do with the egg whites is a tough question that I have to face with. Well, beside making more macarons, which are overflown in my fridge right now, what else could I make? Then I thought of these little French cookies called "langues de chat" that are absolutely easy to make. And in no time, I got myself some buttery and quite addicting cookies to enjoy with my afternoon tea.
Ingredients:
1. 1 stick of soften, unsalted butter
2. 3/4 cup of granulated sugar (plus 2 tsp for the meringue)
3. 3/4 cup of self-raising flour (sifted)
4. 3 egg whites
5. 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
6. 1 pinch of salt
7. Almond slivers
7. Almond slivers
In a stand mixer, whisk butter and sugar until light, fluffy and pale yellow, set aside. Wash the stand mixer bowl thoroughly, then whisk the egg whites with 2 tsp of sugar until stiff peak. Fold the egg white meringue gently into the butter mixture (divided in 3 additions). Fold the sifted flour into the mixture also in 3 additions. Add vanilla and salt to the batter and mix until combined. Pour the batter into a pastry bag with the attached round piping tip. Pipe the cookies onto the cookie sheets that lined with parchment papers or silicon mats. The piped cookies should be about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. Make sure you leave enough room between cookies so they can spread while being baked. Sprinkle some almond slivers on top.
Pre-heat the oven to 300F and bake the cookies for 16-18 minutes until the edges turn golden brown. Keep the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for later consumption.
Dear Kat,
ReplyDeleteI made the Langues de Chat, they were delicious, thank you for the recipe. Since there is only my husband and myself we cant finish the cookies very fast, is there a way to keep them from getting soft so fast??? It seems that by the next the cookies lost some of there crispness. Thank you for your help!
Hi there, I'm glad you tried and like the cookies. I'm not sure why yours lost the crispness! Were they crispy after you let them cool down on the rack? I baked mine until they are brown around the edges, they will be quite soft right after you remove them from the oven, but should crisp up nicely after cooling. And if you keep them in an airtight container, they will keep their crispness for a long time. Make sure you let them brown (not too brown though) around the edges in the oven. If they are still under-baked and appear softer than they should be then they won't stay crisp for long after being baked. I hope this help!
ReplyDeleteDear Kat, Yes, I baked them till they are brown and crispy! I did cut the sugar to only 1/2 cup, my husband doesn't like things too sweet:(. Could the sugar amount be the reason? I love the cookies, they are out of this world, just wish I could understand why mine tend to get soft the next day. I did put them in an airtight box per your recommendations, hope you can shine light on this mystery for me. May be I need to bake it again exactly like your recipe, FULL on sugar:). Thanks Kat for your help
ReplyDeleteSorry I couldn't be more helpful to the problem, but I also think it may have to do with the lesser amount of sugar. If you do try it again with the full amount of sugar, please let me know how they turn out.
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