Almond Wafers: Tuiles aux Amandes
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup egg whites (scant 2 egg whites) 1/3 cups plain bleached cake flour 1/3 cup blanched almonds, pulverized 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2/3 cup slivered almondsPreheat oven to 425 degrees.
Butter the outside of all the muffin cups on a muffin tin. Set aside.
Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl with a wooden spoon. When soft and fluffy, add the egg whites, stirring only enough barely to blend. Sift the flour onto the mixture and fold with a rubber spatula. When almost completely blended, fold in the ground almonds, almond extract and vanilla.
Working with just 1 cookie sheet at a time, drop 1-tablespoon gobs of batter onto prepared cookie sheets, placing batter about 3 inches apart. With the back of a spoon, smear out each batter spot into a thin, almost transparent disk 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Top each one with some almonds.
Bake in the center of the oven until a 1/8-inch border around the cookies look light brown.
Quickly slide a spatula under a cookie; lift it off and gently form it onto the outside of the upside-down bowl. Repeat this step quickly (before cookies harden) with the rest of the cookies.
(Note: The wafers lose their crispness if they’re left out. They’ll last in an airtight container for a couple of days.)
