| Cat tongue | |
| Alternate Name: | Ladyfinger |
| Country: | France (biscuits), Austria (chocolate bars) |
| Type: | Biscuit or chocolate bar |
A cat tongue is a small biscuit (cookie) or chocolate bar available in a number of European, Asian, and South American countries. The name comes from the fact that the biscuits are long and flat, somewhat like a cat's tongue.
They are known locally as kočičí jazýčky (Czech), Kattentong (Dutch),[1] kocie języczki (Polish), langue de chat (French), Katzenzungen (German), lingua di gatto (Italian), língua de gato (Portuguese), macskanyelv (Hungarian), lengua or lengua de gato (Spanish), limbă de pisică (Romanian) or lidah kucing (Indonesian).
Cat's tongue cookies are sweet and crunchy. The original recipe most likely comes from 17th century France.[2] [3] [4] They are produced from egg white, wheat flour, sugar, butter (sometimes) and vanilla.[5] They are baked in the oven until cooked.[1] Additional ingredients may include chocolate, citrus, and spices.
In European cuisine they are 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. In the Canary Islands, cat's tongue cookies are served with bienmesabe, a dessert dish.[6]
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, are often circular or square and are ingredients in such confections as Shiroi Koibito, Shiroi Shin'yōju, and Magokoro Zutsumi.
They are produced from milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate.[7]
The first Cat tongue (Macskanyelv) was made in Budapest by the Swiss-born Hungarian patissier Emil Gerbeaud in the late 1880s.[8] The delicacy is still produced by Szerencsi and other companies such as Sweetness and Szamos. It is considered an authentic Hungarian sweet.[9] Chocolate cat tongues have also been in production elsewhere since before 1900; the Austrian company Küfferle (now owned by Lindt & Sprüngli) 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" (little cat tongues).