INGREDIENTS
(makes about forty)
225g egg white
250g icing sugar
250g pastry flour
Croquante or sesame seeds
Extra equipment:
plastic cups or similar
METHOD
Lightly whisk the egg white. Incorporate sifted icing sugar and pastry flour. Beat till smooth. Chill down thoroughly to stiffen the mixture. Fill a piping bag (plain tube, roughly 3mm) with the mixture. Heat the oven to 210ºC, gas mark 6½. Prepare baking sheets with Silpat mats or silicone paper. Pipe a neat spiral, about 15cm diameter on to the sheet. You will be able to pipe six spirals per sheet. Sprinkle croquante or sesame seeds over each spiral. Bake for five minutes. The spirals should have coloured lightly.
To shape, take the baking sheet from the oven. Cool about one minute. Slide a palette knife under the still flexible spiral. Invert a cup on the work surface. Slip the spiral over the cup, holding its centre, and let it fall like a coil around the side of the cup. Hold it while it hardens (about 40 seconds), then remove from around the cup.
Stuart Pate