Over the holidays the Kitchen Gods had two very special visitors in the form of fiver-year-old twin boys, Nathan and Zachary. There was running and pouncing and jumping and some nip. And then after the Kitchen Gods were exhausted in 10 minutes (they are cats after all), we all went to the beach (well, not the Kitchen Gods). This visit gave me an excuse to finally make a cookie recipe I had been saving for some time: langues de chats. Langue de chats translates into cat’s tongues and I found the recipe once upon a time while looking for a way to use the bag of Belgian peal sugar I had sitting in my pantry. The cookie is very simple and very easy to make.
A little butter, salt, eggs whites, flour and vanilla are all combined and then the batter gets chilled for half an hour or so.
And then piped-out onto a baking sheet.
Sprinkle with pearl sugar, or don’t, either way, these cookies are a perfect little favor for spending some time with the Kitchen Gods.
And of, course, no actual cat’s tongues are required.
Langues de Chat
adapted slightly from Bouchon Bakery as appeared at www.seriouseats.com: Langues de Chat
Ingredients
- 4 TBS unsalted butter
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- Belgian pearl sugar for sprinkling
Directions
- Cream butter, sugar and salt. Add vanilla and one egg white. Mix to combined. Add second egg white and mix until just incorporated. Fold in half the flour, then fold in remaining flour until smooth. Refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes.
- Put racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheet with parchment.
- Place the chilled batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 plain or fluted tip. Pipe the batter into this strips, about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long on the baking sheets, leaving room in between as they will puff while baking.
- Sprinkle with pearl sugar if desired.
- Bake for about 3 minutes, then rotate baking sheets and bake for another 3-5 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool on racks.
I love the texture of langues de chats. Another good use for pearl sugar is chouquettes, one of my favorite morning treats. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/03/les-chouquettes/
Langue de chats were so good. It is a mother’s approved snack because they aren’t sweet, but yummy.
On the side note, confirmed that the boys exhausted the Kitchen God. That is the boys specialty (going after cats and pretend that they were cats. What to expect when their mommy stalked cats during her pregnancy, right?) They still talk about you and ask when we are going to see you again.