Cat tongue


A cat tongue or cat's tongue cookie is a small biscuit or chocolate bar available in a number of European, Asian, and South American countries. They are known locally as "kočičí jazýčky", Katte tong, "kocie języczki", "langue de chat", "Katzenzungen", "lingua di gatto", "língua de gato", "macskanyelv", "lengua" or "lengua de gato", or "lidah kucing". They are shaped somewhatlike a cat's tongue. They are sweet and crunchy.
They are produced from egg white, wheat flour, sugar, butter and vanilla or milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate. They are baked in the oven until cooked. Additional ingredients may include chocolate, citrus, and spices. They are typically prepared with a ganache, cream or jam filling, and sandwiched together. They are sometimes dipped in chocolate as part of their preparation. In France, the cookie is often served with sorbet or ice cream.
A cat's tongue mold pan may be used in their preparation, in which cookie dough is placed and then baked. In French, this pan is known as langue-de-chat. This pan is also used in the preparation of ladyfingers and éclairs. The mold is also referred to as a cat's tongue plaque.
In Japan, a "langue de chat" is a square sandwich cookie, made of a layer of white chocolate between two square cookies. Shiroi Koibito is one famous manufacturer, but langues de chat can be found throughout Japan, including :ja:白い針葉樹|白い針葉樹 in Nagano and :ja:まごころづつみ|まごころづつみ in Hiroshima.
In the Canary Islands, cat's tongue cookies are served with bienmesabe, a dessert dish.

History

Chocolate cat tongues have been in production since before 1900; the Austrian company Küfferle has been producing them since 1892. Elsewhere in Europe, companies including Sarotti, Hachez and Halloren make cat tongues. In Brazil, they are manufactured by Zermatt and Kopenhagen. In Chile they are made by Costa under the name "Lengüitas de gato". Hungarians widely believe that the Swiss-born Hungarian patissier Emil Gerbeaud invented the delicacy in the late 1880s.