Orange Glass Tuiles – Super Versatile Thin, Transparent Cookies

Here’s a super easy recipe for glass tuiles. Glass tuiles are transparent, crisp, thin cookies and while they can be eaten alone, are typically used as a garnish for other desserts. The picture at the right is not the greatest for showing off these cookies, but I love to serve them with fruit desserts.

For the adults in the house, marinate segmented oranges with freshly squeezed orange juice and a little muscat or other dessert liquor, orange flavored is a great choice. When I want to splurge I go with a little Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. For the kids, try a vanilla bean-infused light simple syrup with a few ticks of grated orange peel.

Highly versatile. You can crumble the cookies and use them as a base for sabayon or zabaglione desserts and fresh berries, or lightly sweetened whipped cream served with fresh fruits. If you make them small, shape the warm but set cookies in a tuile former, over the rim of a wide-rimmed bowl, or in the bottom of mini muffin cups. Orange glass tuiles are also lovely when kept flat and used as a large garnish, as is, or broken up into small pieces and used for sprinkling on top.

All in all, orange glass tuiles are a great way to dress up a bag of roadside fresh oranges.

Orange Glass Tuiles

• 3 1/2 ounces powdered sugar
• 3/4 ounces cake flour
• 1 1/4 ounces fresh squeezed orange juice 
• 1 1/4 ounces melted salted butter, no substitutions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place a silicone baking sheet on a cookie sheet or a sheet pan.
2. Measure and sift the dry ingredients together.
3. Add in the orange juice, then the melted butter. Stir to smooth.
4. Place 1/2 teaspoon mounds onto the silicone baking sheet and spread out with the back of the spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for about 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie and the spread diameter of them. Bake until the tuiles are evenly browned. These cookies will spread a lot and become quite thin. If the batter is really loose, it may even bubble up and create holes in the cookies. That only adds to their charm.
5. Let the cookies rest on the sheet pan for a minute or two until they set up enough to shape. If you work too soon, they won’t set up properly and you’ll end up with a hot, gooey mess that will end up shaping into a crisp mess. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days before serving.