Ronda

My daughter gave me a Madeleine pan yesterday because she loves Madeleines and so I began a search for A Medeleine recipe. Little did I know that such controversey has been created over what constitutes the "Perfect Madeleine".

http://www.slate.com/id/2118443

Cake flour or plain white flour, less eggs or more eggs, less butter or more butter, to rest the batter or not to rest. I found one recipe at Joy of Baking:

http://tinyurl.com/mrvcf

and gave that a try. It is very plain with just vanilla for flavoring.

I think my baking powder is over active and I didn't like the large air bubbles in the cookies and I accidentally used white pastry flour instead of plain white all-purpose flour. Incidentally, I hesitated to use Bakers Joy on the pan which is not teflon thinking it might impart the oil flavor rather than a butter flavor but it worked beautifully. It was hard to spray each little cookie shell but I blotted up any extra with a wadded up paper towel.

So, let me hear from you especially if you can share your perfect Madeleine recipe.

I am off to the grocery store to next try a recipe from epicurious.com entitled Lemon Tea Cakes:

http://tinyurl.com/rne74

kwren

bookmarking so I can make some for my brother!

Ronda

I know there are many French Fodorites on this board so hope they can help us out.

cigalechanta

On the way to Alsace, we stopped at Commercy to buy the famous oval boxes of the Madeleines de Commercy , A La Cloche Lorraine. I use one empty as my sewing kit, a second for my shoe shine kit.
I have a 1979 cookbook, "Dining with Marcel Proust-A practical guide to French cuisine of the Belle Epoque.
The Madeleines recipe calls for flour, salt, small eggs, sugar, vanilla essence or orange flower extract, grated rind of 1/2 lemon, unsalted butter.

Ronda

Thanks for the cookbook tip; I see they still have it on Amazon.

cigalechanta

And thanks for telling me that it's reissued in paperback so I don't have to lend out my copy that I bought in 1979. It has a brown linen cover embossed with gold leaf lettering that has started to disintergrate.

LLindaC

Our neighborhood had a French progressive party and I made two kinds of medeleines, the ones with lemon and chocolats. They were huge hits, but the cream puffs went first!
http://cookie.allrecipes.com/az/ChocolateMadeleines.asp

SkiBum123

Chocolate looks yummy, Linda, but still searching for the perfect classic recipe.

In Patricia Wells Provence cookbook she had a recipe for savory Madeleines made with parmasan cheese and YOGURT instead of butter.

JC98

So where can you get Proust's madeleine in Paris? We tried some madeleleine in a package bought in a grocery store. It was decent but was that Proust's? Merci.

Neopolitan

I'm sorry to inform you that there is only one way to do the perfect madeleine.

Step one: book a ticket to Paris. . .

SkiBum123

The epicurious.com author of the recipe I posted above states:

The best, freshest madeleine has a dry, almost dusty taste when eaten on its own. One of my favorite versions is made by André Lerch, an Alsatian baker with a bread and pastry shop on the Left Bank.

And a google search reveals:

The production is a bit smaller at the little Paris bakery run by Andre Lerch (4 Rue Cardinal Lemoine, Paris 5; Metro stop: Cardinal Lemoine). Mr. Lerch, a native of Alsace, makes 48 madeleines each morning because for him, too, they trigger memories.

and

Madeleines are also one of the few pastries that French women, accustomed to buying most pastries and breads at pastry shops, do make at home. Almost all basic French cookbooks include a recipe for madeleines, and the little cakes are one of the first things young girls learn to make in home economics classes in school.

The following are other Paris pastry shops that regularly feature freshly baked madeleines:

- Patisserie St. Paul, 4 rue de Rivoli, Paris 4 (St. Paul).

- Maison Chavinier, 39 Avenue Rapp, Paris 7 (Pont de L'Alma).

- Boulangerie Bascoulergue, 21 rue de Picpus, Paris 12 (Nation).

Recipe:

Another version of the madeleine, flavored with chocolate, is manufactured commercially in France and sold in supermarkets but is rarely found in individual pastry shops. Madeleines (two dozen) 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs zest, or grated rind, of 1 lemon 1 cup flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter madeleine molds with the 2 tablespoons butter. In bowl of electric mixer, combine sugar, eggs and lemon zest until well blended. Slowly add the melted, cooled butter. Fold in flour, just until incorporated.

Spoon dough into madeleine tins with individual molds three inches long, filling about two-thirds full. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until dough is golden and firm. Remove madeleines from tins as soon as they're baked, and let cool on a baking rack. Wash the tins immediately with a stiff brush and plain water. The madeleines are best eaten cooled, within a few hours after baking. They may be stored for several days in an airtight container. To refresh, heat for several minutes in a warm oven.

entire article from NY Times by Patricia Wells:

http://tinyurl.com/l9wnm

So, If all young schoolgirls learn to make them, surely some of you French Fodors can provide us with your favorite recipe!

SkiBum123

Well, opps, used my husband's page or whatever. Ronda.

Carrybean

This is the one I've used for years. It's from Craig Claiborne;
MADELEINES (3 1/2 -4 dozen)
4 eggs, room temperature
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour (regular all-purpose)
1/4 lb butter, melted & cooled

Grease well &amp; flour pans for 4 dozen madeleines. <b>If only half this many pans are available, cut the recipe in half &amp; make it again. This is because the butter, on standing, settles to the bottom &amp; causes a heavy rough layer.</b> Place racks near the bottom of the oven &amp; preheat the oven to 400°.

Beat the eggs with the salt, adding sugar gradually, until the mixture stands in very stiff peaks. Add vanilla.

Sift about 1/4 of the flour at a time over the egg mixture &amp; fold it in just until no flour shows (don't overmix.)

Add the butter about a TBL at a time &amp; fold it in as quickly as possible. Fill the prepared pans aboutr 3/4 full, place in oven immediately &amp; bake until light brown, about 10 minutes.

Ronda

Tried making the Chocolate Madelines posted by Linda. They were yummy and I would make them again for the chocoholics in my family (ME). They weren't rated very high at allrecipes so you should post a review if you liked them. I tried to post a review and a picture so will see what happens. I used Lady Wellington for my allrecipes account name.

I'll try Carrybean's next.

Cooking Light has a Banana-Macadamia Madeleine with only 53 calories per cookie! Course, not very traditional. What the heck.

LLindaC

Ronda, glad you liked them. I was pressed for time on that party, they did fine in a pinch. I dipped half in a semisweet chocolate and sprinled powdered sugar on the other. They taste great with coffee, al of them.I didn't post the other &quot;ttraditional&quot; recipe, but I think I got it at Williams-Sonoma. It had lemon zest in it.