Daring Bakers: Tuiles... ish

Honestly, I didn't know what Tuiles were until this month.  Ok, I'm still not 100% sure, but thats part of the fun of Daring Bakers, isn't it?

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

So I chose to go the easy route for this challenge and do one of the already gluten free versions, the Nougatine to be exact.  And I sorta messed up.  Just a bit though, I think.  So what happened was I think that I didn't cook the sugar long enough before adding the almonds.  That resulted in not tuiles.  No, they hardened really fast, and I couldn't roll them out however hard I tried.  So, when one almost-cookie broke apart anyways, I tried a tiny piece, and boy was it good.  And already in bite-size!  So I just broke the rest up, because the rest was even more tough, and it wouldn't get used at all if I didn't.     

I promise that I did make this challenge, it's just that it turned out a tad (okay, huge) bit different than everyone elses.  Buy hey, now I've got a good recipe for Almond Bites. (I made that name up.  If you know a better one let me know!)  Whatever you call them, these are amazingly addicting.  I'm just glad that they're not in my reach right now, or they'd be gone...

Oh, and to make this all the more exciting, I made this the night before posting date.  hehe =D.

So another part of the challenge was to have this light (mine isn't all that light) dish with a light counterpart.  I say an apple.  Or some tea, but more on that later...  The apple will be good because it'll be reminiscent of apple crisp maybe?  Also, apples and caramel work amazingly together =D.

Enough of me talking.  To the pictures!!!  

First, I spread the slivered almonds out onto the baking sheet.

Oh, and don't forget to put the sugar in the saucepan =D.

Then you can watch the almonds toast,

and double check the recipe that printed 1/2 on each page... 

Then you get toasted, very yummy almonds =D.

Put sugar pot on heat.  Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

So thats boring.  Tea sounds good.  I'm a tea person, and rooibos is currently my fave.

Vanilla Rooibos being the best for me =D.

Stir.  Stir.  Wait.

Wait.

Hot water is hot.  Tea'll be ready soon.

The sugar is finally starting to turn into caramel...

Very quickly.

Just keep stirring.  I don't want burning. 

(My caramel did get a lot further than this, just not quite far enough...)

It's good to get the almonds handy...

So you can dump them in!

Put on cookie sheet, and into oven.

Try to make a cookie.  It won't roll even after microwaving for a few seconds, so I let it break as it wanted to.

It'll be good to have it all the same considering what's in the oven is even tougher than the first "cookie."

So I kept breaking.

And got this.  An unexpected twist on the Nougatine recipe.

At least I did follow the criteria, using one "batter," shaping it, and showing you what to pair it with.  Sounds good to me =D.

xoxo

Lauren

PS.  Don't forget about that tea.  I almost did!

PPS.  Want to subtly sweeten that tea? Pop a bit/bite/whachamacallit/thingy into it.