Madeleines

Almost everybody has nostalgic memories of their family cooking or baking in the kitchen; food holds a lot of reminiscences that make up your childhood. Madeleines are one of my favorite pastries because I grew up eating them all the time. My mom and my aunt used to bake madeleines frequently, so I was excited to give these French butter cakes a try for myself after finding a recipe for them in Bouchon Bakery. Madeleines are known for their distinctive bump and shell-like shape, which are achieved by giving the batter time to rest and baking them in a pan specifically designed for madeleines. The overall recipe is fairly simple to follow, but there are a couple important steps that can drastically affect the outcome if done incorrectly.

I made the batter in the evening because it had to be refrigerated overnight before baking, and I wanted them to be ready in the morning. The first step was to mix together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, which I set aside for later. Then, I added eggs and granulated sugar in a stand mixer bowl, "warming the bowl gently as needed (see Pommade, page 190) to dissolve the sugar" (Keller and Rouxel 94). As suggested by the book, I carefully warmed the bowl over the stove on low heat, just as you would if you were to make beurre pommade. Another option was to use a blowtorch on the outside of the bowl, but I don't think I'll ever trust myself with that kind of machinery.

I fitted the stand mixer with a whisk attachment and whipped the mixture on high for a few minutes. I knew that it would be done when, "the color lightens and the batter doubles in volume" (Keller and Rouxel 94). This is a crucial step because overbeating the eggs could result in the batter deflating, so I checked the stand mixer several times while moving on to the next step. I used a saucepan to melt together butter, brown sugar, and honey, and by the time I was finished, the eggs were ready to have everything folded in. The book instructed to fold in the butter and dry mixtures until just incorporated and the batter was smooth; overmixing the batter would lead to really dense cakes (Keller and Rouxel 95). After carefully doing this, I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerated it.

In the following morning, I preheated the oven to 350F. According to Keller and Rouxel, "...the best way of preventing them from sticking is to thoroughly butter the mold and then refrigerate or freeze the pan to harden the butter before adding the batter" (Keller and Rouxel 94). I took this advice and melted a little bit of butter in a bowl. I used a pastry brush to liberally brush the madeleine pan with butter, and then I refrigerated it to harden, which didn't take very long. Next, I used two spoons to evenly divide the batter into each mold and I tapped the bottom of the pan against the counter, "to smooth the top of the batter" (Keller and Rouxel 95).

Watching madeleines bake is interesting because as the batter rises, they start to form a little characteristic bump. I baked the madeleines for around 9 minutes, as suggested The book advised that, "It's important not to overbake madeleines; they must be moist" (Keller and Rouxel 94). Next time, I may lean towards 8 minutes because they turned out a tad darker than what was pictured in the book. Nonetheless, they still tasted great and were gone by the end of the day. I will definitely be revisiting this recipe the next time my mom and I bake something together. 

What is a food that brings back a memorable time in your childhood?

Citation:

Keller, Thomas, and Sebastien Rouxel. Bouchon Bakery. New York: Artisan, 2012. Print.