Madeleines

Back in 2003 my family and I attended a friend's graduation at Berkeley and after the ceremony they served light snacks.  I was really impressed by the presentation of the snacks, but I was mostly impressed by the madeleines.  It was my first time having this light, buttery, cake-like cookie and I vowed for it to not be my last.

When we moved to Connecticut I was exploring a thrift shop and found a madeleine pan.  I bought it and went home to start making cookies.  I came across this recipe from Tasty Meals at Home (I use their beef noodle soup recipe) and have never looked back.  I even brought the pan with me to California to make madeleines for my family and they loved them.  A container of madeleines is one of my favorite gifts to give friends.

Thank you for this beautiful recipe, Tasty Meals at Home!

Madeleines

What You Need:

• Madeleine pan – there are mini size ones as well as the regular large size ones. We used a mini pan.
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• powder sugar for dusting (optional)

What to Do:

First off, combine the eggs and sugar and whip till smooth. It will be easier to use an electric mixer.

Next, add in the salt, honey and vanilla.

Add baking powder into a separate bowl. Sift flour into the bowl as well. Using a rubber spatula, add the mixture into increments and mix until all is incorporated and smooth.

Melt the butter and add into the batter. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven at 375 F. Generously grease the madeleine pan. You want the cookies to come out in one piece with the shell like design, so yes..grease it up!

Now, is the somewhat tricky part. In order to fill the pan, we found it easiest to use a makeshift pastry bag. We tried to fill it up by just spooning the batter onto the pan, but it was difficult to do. Since we did not have a pastry bag handy, we just used a regular ziploc bag and filled it with batter. We then cut a small corner of the bag off, and wa la–makeshift pastry bag.

It is important to not to overfill the molds! We filled ours to the top initially and ended up with huge hunchback looking madeleines. We later found out that it is best to fill it up a little more than 1/2 way.

Once you have filled the pans, tap the pan onto a working surface to roughly distribute the batter into the molds. Then, slip it into the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes…it may take longer depending on the oven that you have. When using our oven, 10 minutes was too long, so keep watch around the 8 minute mark to figure out how long is long enough. These cookies are done once the edges are golden brown.

Now, if you want to make these cookies a little more decadent, sprinkle on some powdered sugar!