Recipe - Anise Tuiles

3 Egg Whites; (Largesize
Eggs)
Three fourths cup Confectioners' Sugar
One half cup Allpurpose Flour
6 tablespoon Unsalted Butter; (no
substitutions), melted
Three fourths teaspoon Anise Extract
One fourth teaspoon Salt

The Cook and Kitchen Staff wish you a warm "Noel" as we're off to France
for the second stop on our whirlwind holiday cooking and baking tour.

Just after the December 6th celebration of the Feast of St. Nicholas,
France comes to life for the holidays, reveling in its richly religious
celebrations of Noel. Suddenly "Pere Noel" (aka Santa Claus) begins to
appear in the windows of shops and restaurants throughout France, and
students of every age, enjoying a holiday break from their studies, are
often to be found in Paris cavorting about the Eiffel Tower. This is France
at the holidays, which will be celebrated for an entire month, through
"Epiphany" on January 6th.

Peering into one of the bakery shop windows, you would most likely see
today's recipe, prepared and awaiting your purchase. Just in case you can't
make it to France for Christmas, The Cook and Kitchen Staff offer you this
savory little cookie to sample with your holiday fare. You'll find this
licoricelike crunchy cookie comes in many different shapes and sizes and
is great baking fun to prepare.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Grease a large baking sheet and set aside.

In large mixing bowl, beat egg whites, confectioners' sugar, and flour with
a wire whisk until well blended and smooth. Beat in melted butter, anise
extract, and salt.

Drop one heaping teaspoon of the mixture onto the prepared cookie or baking
sheet. Repeat the process to make 3 more cookies, about 3 inches apart.
With a small spatula, spread each cookie to a 3inch round. Note: Do not
place more than 4 cookies on the baking sheet because almost immediately
after baking, the cookies must be shaped before they harden.

Bake cookies for 5 to 7 minutes, just until the edges are golden. With a
pancake turner, quickly remove one cookie to a wire rack. With freshly
cleaned hands, gently shape the warm cookie to flute the edges.

Repeat the process with remaining cookies on cookie sheet, working as
quickly as possible. If the cookies become too hard to shape, return cookie
sheet to the oven to soften the cookies slightly.

Continue baking, repeating the spreading and shaping process with remaining
batter. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Posted to dailyrecipe@recipeaday.com by RecipeaDay
recipeaday@bignetwork.com on Dec 8, 1998, converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.