culinary school in my kitchen: Alsace and Lorraine: Madeleines

I have always loved madeleines. I have very fond memories of going to the coffee shop with my parents and happily eating these cakes like shell shaped cookies. It was not until recently that I made my first madeleine and I was hooked on these lovely little cookies once again.
Little did I know that this classic cookie came from Lorraine. The story goes that King Stanislas was having a dinner party when his pastry chef left in a huff leaving the guests with out dessert. However there happened to be a chambermaid who stepped up to the challenge and offered to make these sweet little cakes for the party guests. The cakes were a hit, the king was pleased and named the cookies after the chambermaid, "Madeleine de Commercy," and these treats have been a hit ever since.

Madeleines can have many different variations. But for the purpose of the delicate simplicity in these cookies I am going to stick with the basic recipe.

Madeleines can have many different variations. But for the purpose of the delicate simplicity in these cookies I am going to stick with the basic recipe.

eggs, butter, lemon zest and equal parts flour and sugar.

I used the zest of a whole lemon. I just LOVE lemon.

melt the butter and let it cool

in a double boiler (with simmering water) place your eggs and lightly whisk.

then add the sugar. Mix constantly over heat until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Whisking in action!

A nice smooth consistency.

Adding the flour.

flour + eggs + sugar

Now add the melted butter, vanilla and lemon zest and INCORPORATE!

tada! now it is ready to be put in the molds.

I have silicone mold which are very nice when it comes to removing the madeleines, however there are also metal trays that work quite nicely. I think that half the fun of madeleines are their shape you can always experiment with making these in a a muffin pan if you don't happen to have a madeleine pan on hand (they are pretty easy to find though).