Madeleines

Who doesn’t love Madeleines?

Really. If you don’t love Madeleines, I want to hear from you. (And for the rest of you, the normal people, I want to hear from you too, because I’d like nothing more than to have an email conversation about how wonderful Madeleines are. They are so good that I am capitalizing them.)

Madeleine Pros:
- Cute. Check out the shape of these little buggers.
- Little cakes that want to be cookies. So you can eat several and not feel guilty, because cookies were meant to be eaten by the baker’s dozen.
- Taste amazing. A hint of lemon… who can argue with that? (Oh, and the texture is a nice combo of fluffy and chewy- back to the whole cake/cookie identity crisis.)
- Nice name. (When old neighbors of ours had a baby and named her Madeleine, I had to go out and get a Madeleine pan. And bake the “Welcome to the World, Madeleine” Madeleines.)
Madeleine Cons:
- None.
Honestly Speaking: Madeleine Cons:
- You need that goddamn special pan. And if you’re like me, when you actually get around to it, you’ll only buy one, because you need to be fiscally responsible (ever since The Husband stumbled upon the personal finance site called Mint, all “frivolous” purchases look unbearably harsh in the spotlight of the “this is how we spent our money this month” pie charts), and you also don’t really have room for any more pans in your kitchen or pantry or downstairs closet that are already stuffed with baking pans of all shapes and sizes. SO- here you are, with one pan, and a crapload of batter. You see my point now… you fill the pan, bake, then have to do that again and again- more often than you really want on a Saturday afternoon. (Do what I do- make two batches in the pan, in two annoying sets of course, and then bake the rest in any other little baking pan you might happen to have. Even an 8” cake pan will work- just bake a little longer. Sorry, Madeleine.)
Adapted from the Bon Appetit recipe…

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Pinch of salt

1 cup all purpose flour

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
1. Preheat oven to 375°. Generously butter and flour pan for large Madeleines (about 3 x 1 1/4 inches).
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs and 2/3 cup sugar until just blended. Beat in vanilla, lemon zest and salt. Add flour and beat just until blended.
3. Gradually add cooled melted butter in steady stream, beating just until blended.
4. Spoon or pipe 1 tablespoon batter into each cookie mold in pan. Bake until puffed and brown, about 16 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and gently remove from pan.
Tips:
- Filling the pan will be way easier if you put your batter into a piping bag (or large Ziploc with the corner cut off)… you can squeeze the batter in neatly and evenly. Spoons or scoops can be a bit uneven. But it’s totally fine if you want to just scoop in.
- No Madeleine pan? It’s okay. Just fill any little pan you have, or even a 9 x 13″ greased cake pan (bake for maybe 25 minutes or so, or until springy to the touch). Pan be damned!
- Glaze: very optional. These are fantastic without, so save yourself a step and skip it. (Did I just say it was fine to skip glaze? I must have a fever.) Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
- Good idea that came out of this post: I am so going to make a mint pie of some sort, in light of the comment about the pie charts on the Mint site. Hm- chocolate mint cream pie, or maybe a chocolate mint ganache pie. Anything but the Grotesque Alien Brains that involved a mishap with mint and chocolate and other things.
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April 17th, 2013 | More Sweets Please | 2 Comments | Tags: Cookies

2 Responses and Counting...

Alanna 04.17.2013

Nice to meet you Madeline. But seriously, if it’s not chocolate, what’s the point. Walked down the Callebaut gauntlet for the last time this semester :)
More Sweets Please

I understand your affinity for chocolate, Alanna, and I whole-heartedly respect it. Sometimes one has to “cleanse the palate” with sweets other than chocolate, to better appreciate the finer things in life, no? (Work with me here. I am in Chocoholic Rehab, so I feel you.)