Langues de Chat (Cat tongue biscuits)
Sour Cherry Cat Tongue Biscuit
Langues de Chat or Cats tongue biscuits are a classic and elegant french biscuit. These crispy buttery biscuits are delicious with coffee, and very easy to whip up at a moments notice. They are also commonly served with desserts such as ice creams and mousses, but I just like to eat them plain.
I was cleaning out my pantry the other day and found a little bottle or sour cherry essence I picked up at a european deli a while back and wasnt sure what to do with it so I thought I would have a go at making some sour cherry biscuits. This recipe takes on variations well as discussed below and my sour cherry version came out beautifully. They had a slight red hue with a subtle cherry flavour, very delicious and something a little different.
The principal recipe is of the traditional plain biscuit, however, I have suggested some variations at the bottom of this post.
This recipe will make about 30-35 biscuits, however, it doubles well if you would like a larger batch. You need to be certain to use a good quality baking paper to cook these biscuits on or you may have difficulty getting them off the tray without breaking the biscuit (like I did).
INGREDIENTS
40 grams Butter (softened)
60 grams Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar) Sifted
1 egg white
60 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon of Orange Zest
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius.
Prepare a baking tray lined with good quality baking paper.
Beat the Butter and Sugar until it is pale coloured and fluffy.
Mix in the egg white, flour and zest until just combined.
Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.
Pipe onto the prepared tray in a curved L shape to the desired size. Make sure you leave room for spreading between each biscuit.
Bake in the preheated oven for 4-6 minutes.
I recommend you keep a close eye on these ones as they bake! They are ready when the edges a coloured slightly and they have a chewy center.
Plain Langues de Chat
VARIATIONS
You can make many delicious flavour and decorative variations on this plain biscuit.
Try substituting the orange zest for;
lemon, mandarine or lime zest,
1/2 teaspoon sour cherry essence, or
1/2 teaspoon of rose water, or
1/4 teaspoon almond essence, or
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence, or
1/4 teaspoon coconut essence.
Or dipping the completed biscuit in;
melted white chocolate then crushed pistachios, or
melted dark chocolate then crushed macadamias.