Tea time and Madeleine

Today is the third snow storm of the year, pffff... And Phil the Groundhog has predicted an early spring?, "humm I don't think so..."

I needed a nice cup of tea to warm me up. And I was craving to have a bite with my tea and I was thinking: "humm cookies??, humm... no". I made a lot of cookies lately so what about madeleine. It is one of my favorite comfort childhood snack. Madeleines are very small sponge cakes with a distinctive scallop shell-like shape, they are moist light and puffy. It is a traditional small cake from Commercy in Northeastern France, La Lorraine. 

You can find many different stories behind the name and the origin of the madeleine. Here is one : during the 18th century, Madeleine Paumier was a young lady working as a maid. One day the cook was sick (or quit and take all his recipes with him) so she improvised a cake recipe that was served to the Duke of Lorraine Stanislas Leszcynski. And later on his son in law Louis XV named them after her.

Even though you have never tried a madeleine, you heard of it. Who does not know Marcel Proust, a well known french author. He immortalized the madeleine in A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time aka Remembrance of Things Past). While having a tea soaked cake, suddenly he experiences an involuntary memory involving the madeleine and remembering his childhood spent in the village of Combray. 

He wrote: "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 touch my palate than a shudder ran trough me and I sopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure invaded my senses..... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was a little piece of madeleine ....which my aunt Leonie used to give me, dipping it first in her cup of tea. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it...All taking their proper shapes and growing solid, sprang into being, from my cup of tea."

There are so many recipes. The original is made with citrus but you can make them with chocolate, hazelnut, almond extract or matcha powder, glazed or even dipped in chocolate. My favorite is the one with lemon zest. For me it is the classic recipe.

Madeleines are better just out of the oven, still soft and warm. Because they tend to dry out very quickly. But you can freeze them directly out of the oven and reheat them at low heat for a few minutes. Or they can be kept a few days in a air proof metallic box.

You can find many and many recipes on internet but here is one that works for me and that I like.
Ingredients: (make 24 madeleines)
3 eggs
5.5 oz of flour (150g)
4 oz of sugar (130g) and you can add a tbsp of honey as well
4 oz of butter (130g)
1 tsp of baking powder
zest of lemon or orange

1. Preheat oven at 450F (230C)
2. Melt the butter 
3. Mix eggs and suger until the mixture whitens and add the zest
4. Add flour and baking soda
5. Add butter (cool down)
6. Grease the mold with butter and fill them 3/4 full, do not spread the batter
7. Cook for 5/6 min until the bump develop then for 4 more min at 350F (180C) or golden brown on the edges

If you can not get the little bump do not be disappointed, it is maybe the oven was not hot enough or you over mixed the batter.... It happens to me all the time, sometimes I get the bump sometimes not... But the taste and the texture are there!! Sometimes people say that you need to put the batter and even the mold in the fridge for a few hours. The temperature difference will help to develop the bump.

But when you crave for something you want it now, right?
Luckily this time, they turn out great, I got the bump, yes !! I was happy because it looks better for the pictures. And great taste too!!

Despite the snow storm, it was a wonferfull day after having a hot cup of tea and some freshly baked madeleines. Perfect !!