Gluten Free Chocolate Thins

I’ve been wanting to experiment with making tuiles for a while, especially because it provides a great recipe to use up all of the egg whites I have left over after making ice cream. After watching endless episodes of MasterChef however I have seen the many ways in which such biscuits can fail. Take your eyes off them for a second and they turn into cinder crisps, or attempt to sculpt them into fancy twists with the aid of a rolling pin and if they aren’t the perfect pliable temperature there is a risk of things shattering into a million little pieces. So I thought as an introduction to making this delicate little biscuit I would keep things simple and not attempt fancy shapes or micrometre thinness just little round discs of light chocolate yumminess.

I also decided to make these gluten free, experimenting with a mix of gluten free flour and ground almonds to produce 2 versions of these chocolaty treats. And the results from this experimental baking session turned out alright. In fact I was so pleased that I sent some off in my last foodie pen pal parcel to Elise, who has since asked for the recipe so it wasn’t just me who liked them!

INGREDIENTS

50g butter

50g caster sugar

50g egg white

45g gluten free flour

15g cocoa powder

Set the oven to 180 deg C / 350 deg F

Line a large baking tray with greaseproof baking parchment.

Beat the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy then gradually add the egg whites and continue to beat together.

Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and fold the ingredients together until fully combined.

Next place the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After half an hour in the fridge place teaspoon dollops of the mixture onto the baking tray and spread out slightly with the back of the spoon into a circular shape. Ensure that there is plenty of space between each biscuit as they will spread during cooking.

Place the baking tray into the oven for 8 minutes until the edges of the biscuits are just starting to crisp up.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

VARIATION – Almond Chocolate Thins

Follow the recipe as above but instead of using 45g of gluten free flour use a mixture of 20g of gluten free flour and 20g of ground almonds.

Then once the mixture has been spread into circles on the baking tray decorate with sliced almonds before cooking.

Recipe inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Almond Tuiles