Madeleines

Since first visiting France, Madeleines have captured my heart.  I've always wanted to make them, but I've never broken down and bought the pans. They're a constant presence in my amazon basket. I price them out. I drool. Finally I cracked. Sur la Table will do that to a girl. Problem is I only broke down a little, read: I only bought one pan.. Ahh. One madeleine pan and a recipe twice the size of Julia Child's. Severe cheapness that leads to severe madness. I used my The American Bouangerie cook book recipe with out really thinking and ended up with DOZENS of cookies! This isn't a bad thing. They were ALL eaten, but if this seems like too many for you, then use Julia Child's you can find it here. If 35 plain madeleines are more your style, this is your recipe. 

Here's what you need: 

-3 cups plus 2 tbsp flour

-2 1/2 tsp baking powder

-8 extra large eggs

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-14 1/2 oz (1 1/2 plus 5 tbsp) unsalted butter

-2 3/4 cups powdered sugar

-1/4 cup packed brown sugar

-3 tbsp honey

Plus of course you'll need a madeline pan. A large one will make 35 cookies, a small one will make an almost infinite amount of cookies (or that'll how it will feel if you only have one pan..).

Here's how you do it: 

Melt your butter. This is how much you're going to need. Try not to fight it. It's glorious. While this is melting up, combine the flour and baking powder and give it a whisk to combine. 

Combine flour and baking powder and give it a whisk to combine. 

 In a large or mixer bowl (with a hand mixer), beat together (on low) the warm butter and powdered sugar until smooth. 

Add the brown sugar and honey and mix. I loved making these, the farther you get the more beautiful the batter gets! 

Add half the flour and stir until combined.

Make sure not to have your mixer on higher than stir. You may end up covered in flour.  Whisk your eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl and gradually add them to the batter. Then add the other half of the flour.

Then you'll end up with this glorious mixture. Beautiful and buttery and sugary. Heat your oven up to 375f. Prepare you pan with spray oil if you have a non stick pan or butter and flour for a regular pan. I had to repeat this step after every second use of the pan. 

Scoop the batter into your madeleine pan until about 3/4ths full. For me this was about a measuring teaspoon full. Bake about 22-25 minutes in large pans and about 8 minutes in mini pans.  As you can see my first few were a little too brown (but still delicious) but the later batches were perfect! 

Make sure you top with a little powdered sugar before serving!

Bon Appétit