Madeleines

Madeleines have been on my "to-bake" list since I was in high school.  All I needed was the proper pan, a few handy gadgets (pastry brush, 1.5 tbsp scoop, microplane -- okay these last two were not absolutely necessary, but you know how it is with kitchen items), and a spare hour or two.  With a quick visit to one of the fantastic restaurant supply stores in lower Manhattan, I had everything I needed.  And so now, without further ado...

Recipe adapted from: hungry sofia and Sur La Table's blog.  Original recipe found in From Julia Child’s Kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 stick + 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp flour (for coating pans)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Grated lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
• 3 drops of fresh lemon juice (not more, trust me)

Makes: a little less than 2 dozen madeleines.

Directions:

Note: All ingredients should be brought to room temperature before mixing so that the melted butter does not congeal in the batter before the ingredients have blended together.

1. In large mixing bow, combine sugar, flour, and salt.  Add lightly beaten eggs to the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon to blend into a heavy paste.  Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. In a small pan, bring butter to a boil until it begins to brown ever so slightly; transfer immediately to small bowl.
3. Combine 1 1/2 tbsp of the browned butter with 1 tbsp of flour in a tiny bowl and set aside.
4. Place the remaining butter in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes, while you paint the madeleine pans with a light coating of the butter/flour mixture.  Brush out any butter/flour mixture that pools at the bottom of the forms.  Place madeleine pans in freezer if you have room.
   
5. Stir cooled butter, vanilla, grated lemon zest, and lemon juice into flour/sugar/egg paste with a wooden spoon.  Go slowly at first to avoid splashing the butter.  Don’t over mix.
6. Cover the batter with plastic wrap and let it rest for about an hour (up to 3 days) in the fridge.
7. Preheat oven to 375°.  Remove madeleine pans from the freezer.  Drop a rounded heaping tbsp of batter into each well at the deepest point of the form.  Do not spread batter to fill the mold.
   
8. Set the pans on the middle rack and bake for about 15 minutes until cakes are puffed up in the middle and browned around the edges.
   
9. Cool the pans for a minute or two and then tip the pans onto a cooling rack to unmold the cakes, gently nudging cakes with an offset spatula if necessary.
10. (optional) Dust cakes with powdered sugar if desired, or dip in a lemon glaze made with 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice, and a little water, as per David Lebovitz. Or you can use 1 cup sugar to 1/4 cup lemon juice, as per Dorie Greenspan.  Dorrie suggests that you dip the bump side of each madeleine in the glaze and put them bump side up on the cooling rack.  Then place rack in the oven, and watch carefully, as it only takes 1 to 3 minutes for the glaze to melt; remove the cakes from the oven at the first sign of a bubble in the glaze.  Place the cooling rack on kitchen towel or trivet (to protect your countertop) and let the cakes cool to room temperature.

 

 

Serving: Traditionally, madeleines are served with tea, but they are delicious paired with many beverages from coffee to Cognac. The cakes are best slightly warm, fresh out of the oven when their edges are still crisp, but these madeleines also hold up well for a few days.

Storage: When cool, madeleines can be stored in a covered container, or wrapped and frozen for later.  Glazed madeleines are best left uncovered, or loosely wrapped.  Note that glazed madeleines should not be frozen, since the glaze will melt.

Compared to the number of overly complicated madeleine recipes there are out there, this one is a cinch!  Equally important, the cakes are delicious and moist, the crumb is just right, and there is a proper hump (for those who care about these things).  I was hoping, perhaps, that by making these cakes I might conjure up the muse that Proust wrote about.  I cannot report any particularly transforming experiences, but I will say that I did enjoy these cakes thoroughly.  Thank you, Julia!