Image is for illustrative purposes only.
Cat tongue biscuits, or langues de chat, are thin, crisp little fingers piped from a simple butter, sugar, egg and flour batter. They bake with pale golden centres and deep golden, lacy edges, and they snap cleanly when you bite them. The lemon zest and vanilla keep the flavour fresh rather than heavy.
In cake work they are one of the most useful small bakes to have on hand. Use them to edge a cream cake, stand them upright around a mousse, serve them beside ice cream and coffee, or crush them as a crunchy layer between fillings. The batter is piped straight from the bag, so a large batch takes very little time once it is mixed.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
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Weight Per Unit: 199
Number of Units: 4
Unit Size: baking tray of biscuits, about 7 cm long each
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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200 |
7 ounces
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Butter
Butter is a solid dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk, to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.
unsalted
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room temperature |
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B
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200 |
7 ounces
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
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C
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150 |
3 Whole Eggs
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Whole Egg
Eggs are one of the most common ingredients in a typical cake. Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant amounts of protein and choline, and are widely used in baking. Usually an eggs role in a cake is to add moisture and richness, act as a raising agent as well as a glue to bind the ingredients together.
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room temperature |
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D
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240 |
8.4 ounces
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Cake Flour
Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour. Using the scoop and level method, well-sifted flour usually produces 125 g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 g of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. American Cake flour is bleached; in countries where bleached flour is prohibited, plain flour can be treated in a domestic microwave to improve the texture of the end product.
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sifted |
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E
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2 |
0.4 teaspoon
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Vanilla Essence
Vanilla Extract is made with 100% pure vanilla beans. With a sweet, syrupy consistency, this Vanilla is ideal for use in icings, drinks and whipped cream as well as classic baking recipes. Vanilla Essence is commercially manufactured by chemicals and is more of a watery consistency as opposed to vanilla extract which is thicker and a lot fuller and richer in flavour. You can replace one with the other but use 50% more of essence. For example, for 1 teaspoon of extract, use 1.5 teaspoons of essence.
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F
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2 |
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Lemon Zest
Lemon zest is the thin, brightly coloured outer layer of the lemon skin, removed with a fine grater or zester without taking the bitter white pith underneath. It holds the fruit's aromatic oils and gives a fresh citrus lift to batters and creams.
fresh
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finely grated |
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794
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Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
The 'Custom Weight Per Unit' is already loaded with the weight per unit for this recipe but can be changed if required. If all you wish to do is change the number of units (or servings), just leave the current weight per unit.
STEP 2. Enter your Custom Number of Units
This is the number of units (or servings) you want this recipe to yield.
STEP 3. Click Calculate
The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Pre-heat |
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (390°F) and line flat baking trays with baking paper. Fit a piping bag with an 8 mm plain nozzle. |
Trays flat and cool, not warm from a previous batch |
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2 |
Cream |
Beat A, B, E and F (butter, caster sugar, vanilla essence and lemon zest) together until pale and light. |
Light and creamy, sugar no longer gritty |
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3 |
Add |
Add C (whole egg) a little at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl down. |
Smooth and glossy, not split or curdled |
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4 |
Fold |
Sift D (cake flour) over the mixture and fold it through gently. |
Just combined, no dry flour showing; batter soft enough to pipe |
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5 |
Pipe |
Fill the piping bag and pipe fingers about 7 cm long onto the lined trays, leaving at least 4 cm between them. |
Even thickness; they spread to about double their width |
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6 |
Bake |
Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. |
Edges deep golden, centres still pale |
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7 |
Cool |
Leave the biscuits on the tray for 1 minute to firm up, then lift them onto a rack. |
Crisp and snapping cleanly once cold |
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8 |
Store |
Store in an airtight container as soon as they are completely cold. |
Crisp; they soften quickly in humid air |
Important Notes
This scaled batch makes about 790 g of batter, enough for roughly 80 small biscuits. Pipe them well apart, as the batter spreads to about double its width while baking. They colour very quickly at the edges, so watch the first tray closely and use it to judge the timing for the rest. While the biscuits are still hot and soft they can be curled over a rolling pin or wrapped around a wooden spoon handle to make tuiles and cigarette shapes. Once cold and crisp, store them airtight; they keep for about a week and will soften if left out.
Tools & Arrangements
Electric mixer with paddle, sieve, rubber spatula, piping bag with an 8 mm plain nozzle, flat baking trays, baking paper, cooling rack, airtight container
