James Martin’s toffee ice cream cones are a fun and interesting way to turn tuiles into a creatively tempting dessert

Once you master the art of making these fantastic biscuits, there’s no end to what you can create.

Just remember that you need to mould them while they are still hot, so make sure you get everything ready when your tuiles are baking in the oven.

If you run out of moulding time, try briefly reheating the biscuits in the oven, but you can only get away with doing this once before they’ll start to crack when you shape them.

Ingredients

• 1/2 quantity Toffee ice cream or whatever ice cream you fancy

• 50g fudge pieces

• 4 tablespoons maple syrup

For the tuiles:

• 115g butter, softened

• 140g icing sugar

• 3 egg whites

• 115g plain flour

• 50g caster sugar

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C and line 2 baking sheets with silicone paper.

2 For the tuiles, beat the butter and icing sugar together in a bowl until smooth then whisk in the egg whites, one at a time, until smooth and shiny. Sieve the flour over the top then fold in gently.

3 Take a sheet of cardboard and cut out the shape of a fan with a flat base, about 6cm across the bottom, 16cm across the top and 10cm high.

4 Place the template on the lined baking sheet and, using a palette knife, spread the tuile mixture over it, to a thickness of 2mm. Carefully remove the template. Repeat until you have 4 fans.

5 Place the remaining tuile mixture into a piping bag with a 3mm nozzle and pipe about 5 thin arches along the top of each fan, making sure that the ends overlap onto the fan.

Bake for 2–3 minutes, or until pale golden brown, then remove and cool on the trays for 1 minute.

6 Working quickly, pick up one fan and fold it around to create a cone. Set aside in a short glass to hold it in the fan shape and repeat with the other three.

7 If they set too firmly then place back in the oven for 1 minute to soften and try again. Set aside to firm up.

8 Make a second template in the shape of a tadpole, to resemble a trail of melting ice cream, with a head approximately 3cm in diameter and a 10cm-long tail.

9 Repeat the process as for the fans, filling the template with the tuile mixture to make 4 ‘tadpoles’. Bake for 2–3 minutes, then set aside until cold.

10 Heat the caster sugar in a pan until golden brown and liquid all the way through. Set the base of the pan into a bowl or tray of cold water to stop the caramel overheating, then leave there for a few minutes until the caramel is slightly more solid.

11 Place a small dot of caramel on a serving plate. Place the head of the ‘tadpole’ tuile on top and stick a dollop of caramel on top of the head.

12 Quickly place the cone into the caramel and hold for a few seconds until set. Repeat with the remaining caramel and tuiles.

13 When ready to serve, carefully fill the cones with ice cream, layered with the fudge pieces and maple syrup.

Recipe courtesy of James Martin, extracted from Sweet.