Cats' Tongues with Cream

A thin piped batter that spreads into flat oval wafers. Ranhofer's cream version omits butter entirely, so the fat comes from the cream, and the batter is looser than most modern langues de chat.

• Weights and gillsEight ounces of flour is about 1 3/4 cups; eight ounces of powdered sugar about 2 cups, sifted. Three gills is 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream.
• Vanilla sugarNo. 3165 is presumably sugar scented by storage or pounding with split vanilla beans; the recipe does not restate the method here. Two ounces is roughly 1/4 cup if granulated, closer to 1/2 cup if powdered; a teaspoon of vanilla extract folded in with the cream stands in for it, though the flavor is blunter.
• "Bake slowly"Ranhofer gives no temperature; a slack oven, perhaps 300 to 325F in modern terms. These are meant to dry and pale-gold rather than color, and a hot oven browns the thin edges before the centers set.
• Egg whites, partly whippedWhip only to a loose foam that just holds a trail from the whisk. Stiff whites will not fold into a batter this fluid and will leave streaks that bake into blisters.
• Waxed baking sheetA metal sheet rubbed with wax or with butter. Parchment is the modern equivalent and these lift off it far more reliably.
• PipingA plain round tip of about 1/4 inch, held at an angle, three-inch lengths. Space them at least two inches apart in both directions: the batter is thin and each length will roughly double in width.
• Knowing when they are donePull them when the rims are light brown and the centers still pale, 8 to 12 minutes depending on how thin you pipe. They crisp as they cool.
• Shaping and yieldShaping -- If you want them curved, drape them over a rolling pin within a few seconds of leaving the oven; once cool they snap. The full quantity makes a very large batch.
• StorageThey go soft quickly in humid air. Keep them in a tin the day they are baked, and re-crisp briefly in a low oven if needed.