Winged Musings: Hazelnut Cocoa Tuile Cups Filled With Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

Tuiles are thin, crispy wafers that can be sweet or savory. Tuile is French for "tile". In this case, we are talking about sweet, crunchy, chocolately wafers with toasted hazelnuts as the star. These wafers are delicious just as they are, but I can never just stop there. I have made them into cups and filled them with a wondrous bittersweet chocolate mousse, topped it with a white chocolate doodle and dusted it with powdered sugar (although the sugar melts into it and you cannot really see it except for a bit around the edges). I am a huge fan of The Chew, and Carla Hall, one of the 5 co-hosts, made these and I knew I had to too! The difference is, she made them look easy, and I'm here to tell it to you straight. They are not that easy! She has a TV crew to help her. I have taken Carla's recipe and added my own notes in bold. There is a link to the original recipe at the end if you would like to compare. I do not want to discourage you from trying this recipe. Although somewhat difficult, it's fun and if you are comfortable in the kitchen, you'll have no problems. It may take you a couple attempts, but then you'll get the hang of it.

Ingredients

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups almonds or hazelnuts (toasted & finely ground)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large sauce pot, stir together the butter, sugar and corn syrup over a low heat. When the butter has melted and thoroughly combined, add the nuts, cocoa, flour, salt and vanilla and stir to combine.

Transfer batter to a heatproof bowl allow to cool to room temperature. This can be made up to 2 months in advance and stored and refrigerated in an airtight container.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper (very important - do not skip). Form 4 - 1" balls of batter and place on the baking sheet leaving about 3 inches between each. Dampen a spatula or finger with water and flatten the balls into thin 3" discs. Bake for 6 minutes. They spread a lot. When working in batches, the cook time may decrease slightly if the pan does not cool completely before starting the next batch. (I used 2 baking sheets and swapped them out)

To shape Tuiles, use an offset spatula to transfer the hot cookies immediately to a small glass bowl or drape over a rolling pin. (You cannot do it immediately - they are gooey and hot as the dickens. You have to wait about 10/15 seconds. See my note below) Gently press to shape then allow the cookies to cool completely. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. The offset spatula did not work for me as it tore up the wafer. I used a silicon mat and picked up the mat on either side, lifted it from the baking sheet and laid it down on the counter. I then curled back the silicon underneath the wafer in order to grab the edge, picked it up and draped it over a cup. YOU MUST WORK QUICKLY! YOU HAVE LESS THAN 20 SECONDS TO COMPLETE THIS BEFORE THE WAFER HARDENS. You can still use them, they just won't be cups.

Make the Chocolate Mousse. (Since I used hazelnuts instead of almonds, I substituted Frangelico for the Almond Liqueur.)

Once the mousse is set and ready to use, fill a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (you can also use a scoop or a spoon). Pipe some chocolate mousse inside each cup. You can add a white chocolate doodle if you wish and/or dust with powdered sugar. If not serving immediately, wait until you do before adding the powdered sugar as it tends to melt and disappear.