FRANCE: Madeleines

Clearly I need to start this journey with the recipe that started it all: French Madeleines.  They basically are a butter cookie and cake hybrid that are made in shell-like pans. Light, fluffy, delicious. They can be paired with many different flavors, such as lemon, honey, orange, or chocolate.

Because I wanted to get my proportions of ingredients just right, I used a recipe for lemon madeleines, found at Martha Stewart's website. It yields 3 dozen cookies. I rewrote the directions slightly, adding my own variations and notes to it in bold. These were so easy to make and such a hit with my family, as they came out beautifully, with lightly brown, crisp edges and a soft, fluffy center. I was so surprised at how easily they came out of the pan!

Unfortunately, I can't come up with an idea for how to make these without the signature madeleine pan; however, I found what appears to be a good-quality, inexpensive one here. If you know a way to make madeleines without the pan, please let me know!

Happy baking!

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine--I'm on a budget here! (1 1/2 sticks), melted, plus more for pans
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted (not self-rising) (all purpose flour and corn starch will make the same thing--see step #2)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons total) 
• Juice and zest of two large lemons
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional required)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter two madeleine pans; set aside. The madeleine pan I used had a special cooking spray to use with it instead. Essentially, you just can't use an alcohol-based cooking spray like pam because it ruins the nonstick madeleine pan.
2.  If you have cake flour, continue to the next step. If not, you can make it with all-purpose flour and cornstarch. For every cup of cake flour called for, take one cup of all-purpose, remove two tablespoons of it, and replace it with two tablespoons of cornstarch. For this recipe, that means 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 tbsp, and replace those with cornstarch.
3. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl; set aside.(I know this is a strainer; I didn't have my sifter handy!)
4. Zest and juice the lemons. Juice them into a strainer in order to catch the seeds.
5. Put eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest and juice in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (Or any attachment. I have a $25 mixer so I used its normal attachment.) Mix on medium-high speed until pale and thickened, about 5 minutes. 
6. Mix in butter. Using a spatula, fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Keep stirring until all of the clumps are gone. It takes a while, but I think it makes a difference. Let rest 30 minutes.And I mean all of the clumps!
7. Pour batter into prepared
   pans, filling the molds 3/4 full. For this, I used a measuring cup with a spout. You could also use a pastry bag or a Ziploc with a little hole cut out of the corner. 
8. Bake cookies, rotating pans halfway through (You lose heat this way. I just cooked the pans one at a time. Also, who has two madeleine pans?), until edges are crisp and golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cookies cool slightly in pans on wire racks. Invert, and unmold. They should fall right out. To be sure, I always lightly shake the pan from side to side, then place the cooling rack upside down on the pan before flipping. Dust with confectioners' sugar.                        Serve, and enjoy. They're best eaten hot! Bon appétit!

 If you try out this recipe, let me know how it turns out in the comments! Love, Caroline