Langues de Chat

The name of this recipe, Langues de Chat, technically translates to...cat tongues...BUT! That's only because of the texture and thinness of the cookie, they're actually really good, I promise!  I made these for Cercle de Français (French Club) this week because this is a French recipe, obviously.

Here's the original recipe:

Ingredients

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup egg whites (about 2 large)
6 tablespoons all purpose flour
Pinch of salt

 Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 large baking sheets, VERY LIGHTLY. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in medium bowl until well blended. Beat in lemon peel and vanilla . Add egg whites and beat  30 seconds. Add flour and salt; beat  just until blended
 Spoon batter into pastry bag fitted with 1/3-inch plain round tip Pipe batter onto baking sheets in 2 1/2-inch-long strips, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool (cookies will crisp as they cool). (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.).


I definitely modified this recipe, the first batch of dough flattened out to the the thinness of paper after about a minute.  It literally looked like melted butter that had been left to sit out.  I made a second batch, but this time I halved the amount of butter and used nine tablespoons of flour.  This thickened the batter enough that it was able to hold its shape.

First Batch: Batter

Second Batch: Batter

First Batch

Second Batch

After Adding Egg Whites

Another modification I made was to cook the cookies for a much shorter time.  I only cooked them for about seven minutes maximum, and five minutes minimum.

Also, I didn't use an electric mixer at all.  I used a spatula most of the time with a whisk when I added the egg white.  Instead of a pastry bag I used a quart-sized zip-lock bag and cut a small hole in the corner.

The second batch DEFINITELY turned out better. I will copy a modified recipe below the rest of this post.

After all the cookies had cooled, I melted a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and used a cake decorator tool to apply the chocolate.  These cookies are sometimes dipped into chocolate, but I feel like that would have been too much chocolate and it would have overpowered the rest of the cookie.

Modified Recipe

Ingredients

1/8 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (salted is fine too)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup egg whites (about 2 large)
9 tablespoons all purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Sugar, Butter, Vanilla, and Lemon Zest

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 large baking sheets, VERY LIGHTLY. Mix the butter and sugar with a rubber spatula.  Mix in lemon peel and vanilla . Add egg whites and beat with a whisk. Add flour and salt; whisk until blended

Spoon batter into plastic bag and cut a hole 1/3 of an inch across in one corner. Pipe batter onto baking sheets in 2 1/2-inch-long strips, spacing 2 inches apart. Don't put put more than seven cookies on at a time.  Bake until edges are golden, about 5 - 7 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool (cookies will crisp as they cool).

Melt about one fourth to one half of a bag of chocolate chips in a small bowl.  Heat them in 30 second intervals, stirring after each until the chocolate is smooth.  Using a spoon, put the chocolate into a cake decorator and decorate the cookies.  Let the chocolate set at room temperature, or in a refrigerator to quicken the process, and you're done!