Madeleines (the cake/cookies, not the little missing girl)
December 10, 2007
Marcel Proust, a famous French author, is perhaps most commonly known in the food world as making Madeleines -- a bite-sized cake-textured cookie -- famous by writing about it in his novel Remembrance of Things Past (À la recherche du temps perdu):"She (Marcel's mother) sent for one of those squat plump little cakes called "petites madeleines," which look as though they had been molded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell … I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure invaded my senses …"
Although his description sounds like an orgasm, the real controversy surrounding Proust's passage about the madeleine isn't his sensual language, but rather, the fact that his madeleine sounds like it was a stale shortbread cookie rather the moist cake-like treat we are familiar with.
Putting Proust's failed recollection aside (and his stale madeleine for that matter), I tried my hand at making a batch and they lived up to their hallowed description. If you drink coffee or black tea, there can be no better match than these cake-like cookies. I simply couldn't make enough - they lasted about 2 days before they mysteriously disappeared from my countertop.
The following recipe is again, adapted from Once Upon a Tart. I suggest that if you want to try to make this recipe, you double check for all the ingredients and tools. A madeleine mould is a must. I have a plain old-fashioned tin one, I don't like teflon. You also need a cooling baker's rack. This prevents the madeleine's from over-baking in the hot mould. Finally, if you can procure a local honey that is has not been pasteurized to death, it will really contribute to the flavor. I managed to get some honey produced by my boyfriend's grandpa who raises honey bees in the backyard full of mint, lavender, and rose plants. The honey has a cloudy appearance and an essence of all the herbs the bees feed on to produce the honey.
Tools you will need:
- one or two madeleine moulds
- cooling rack
- shaker or mesh strainer for sprinkling powdered sugar
- optional pastry bag
- pastry brush
Ingredients:
- 6 tbsp butter (4 for the recipe, and 2 reserved for brushing on the mould)
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 c sugar
- 1 tbsp packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- confectioner's sugar for dusting
Step One: melt 4 tbsp butter over low heat in a small pan. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in honey and vanilla, leaving to cool.
Step Two: Beat the eggs and sugars in a bow at high speed until the mixture turns foamy and light (about 5 minutes)
Step Three: In a separate bown, whisk flour, baking powder and salt together. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wen ingredients using a spatula. Add the cooled butter/honey and continue mixing until fully incorporated.
Step Four: Cover bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Step Five: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brush the madeleine mould generously with barely melted butter, and around the mould as well.
Step Six: Either using a pastry bag or a spoon, fill each mould three quarters full. I advise that you fill the top of the mould as it expands when baking.
Step Seven: Bake for 8-10 minutes or unti ljust golden brown. Remove immediately and set on cooling rack. After a few minutes, turn the mould over and empty the cookies onto the cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar and eat warm (it's the best).
Repeat and eat, and eat again!
