Recipe given to me by my dear friend is from Julia Child's Kitchen, Alfred A. Knoph, Inc (1975) pp 586-89. *My personal notes are prefixed with an asterick.
Les Madeleine de Commercy
Makes 2 dozen Madeleinces, 3 inches long
- 1 large eggs, beaten in a 1-cup measure
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 stick butter for batter, and 1 1/2 Tbsp for buttering the molds
- 1 Tbsp flour in a small bowl
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- The grated rind of 1/2 lemon*
- 3 drops of lemon juice*
Preliminaries. All ingredients must be tepid here to prevent the melted butter from congealing in the batter before it has blended. Stir the eggs in their container over warm water until tepid. Set sugar & flour in the oven for a few minutes, also until tepid (*I skipped the sugar & flour in the oven bit). Then bring out all your ingredients and equipment and measure 1 tablespoon of the flour into the small bowl reserved for greasing the molds.
The Batter. Measure three quarters of the eggs into a mixing bowl with the sugar and the flour, and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon to blend into a heavy cream--if very stiff, beat in a droplet or so of the remaining egg. Set aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt all of the butter in a saucepan, and let it boil until it begins to brown very lightly. *Don't skip the brown butter step, makes the batter & resulting cakes oh so yummy. Blend 1 1/2 tablespoons into the bowl with the tablespoon of flour, and reserve. Stir the rest of the browned butter over cold water until cool but still liquid. Finally, beat the remaining bit of egg into the batter and stir in the cool butter. Stir in the salt, vanilla, grated lemon and lemon juice. Cover the batter and set aside for 1 hour* (or longer if need be)--*I skipped this part too. Meanwhile, paint the Madeleine cups with a light coating of the browned butter & flour mixture, wiping away and pools that form in the bottom of the cups; set aside (refrigerate in hot weather).
Baking. Preheat oven to 375 degrees in time for baking. After its hour-long rest, batter will be fairly stiff. Using a spoon and rubber spatula, dislodge a rather generous tablespoon lump in the middle of the cup. Bake in the middle level of preheated oven about 15 minutes (*for the mini Madeleines 24-per sheet, bake 7-8 minutes). The Madeleines are done when lightly browned around the edges and when they begin to shrink very slightly from the cups. Unmold onto a rack, humped side up. When cool, wrap airtight and freeze if not to be served promptly.
Serve as is, or sprinkle with a dusting of confectioners' sugar. *Or brush with glaze (I tried both ways and both very yummy).
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