Madeleines...

I have a thing for madeleines.
Yes, that's right, how very Marcel Proust of me.
It's just that... how can anybody resist these elegant little French cakes?
With their cute shell shapes, rich and buttery flavor, and exquisitely unique texture -soft and moist yet with crispy edges- I can't blame our famous author for linking this delicious cookie with his discussion of the concept of involuntary memory.
Proust's passage about madeleines reads:

"No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. ... Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it? ... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea."

(From the book "Remembrance of things past", or as the original French title goes... which sounds so much better if you ask me... "À la recherche du temps perdu". Look at that sophisticated sentence structure, s'il vous plaît).

Now, if a cookie is this awesome that it somehow got included and immortalized in literary greatness... that's a cookie recipe I've got to try out and blog about!


History...?

Commercy, aerial view

It turns out, just like many dishes and recipes shared on my blog, that madeleines also have a somewhat convoluted history that's pretty hard to trace back to its roots. Proust may have found that eating madeleines fueled his literary imagination, but, let me tell you, popping a madeleine in my mouth has not helped me one bit in solving the historical mystery of the treat at hand...

What we do know is that madeleines are, indeed, French, and that they originated in Commercy, in northeastern France, sometime in the 18th or 19th century.

It's up for discussion, it seems.
One version of the legend asserts madeleines may have been named for a 19th century pastry cook, Madeleine Paulmier. Other sources affirm that Madeleine Paulmier was a cook in the 18th century for Stanisław Leszczyński, whose son-in-law, Louis XV of France, named the cookies in her honor. Clearly this is an unresolved matter, with a lot of room for speculation since it spans about 100 years ... So, I'm sure someday this mystery will merit my visiting France to find the real truth about madeleines.

In the meantime, don't be intimidated by Marcel Proust's literary claim on these cookies! Nor by the obscure French past shrouding the cookies' existence.

Madeleines are in essence,  shell-shaped, little sponge cakes individually served. They have a flavor similar  but somewhat lighter than pound cake, with a pronounced butter-and-lemon edge of flavor. The batter used to make madeleines is very similar to the recipe used to make génoise, a basic building block of much of French pâtisserie and amply used for making several different types of cake. Funnily enough though, génoise has its roots in Italy, where the batter was first used to prepare a cake named  after the city of Genoa (génoise cake).

Portofino, Genoa, Italy

Aside from the traditional madeleine pan, typically  found in stores specializing in kitchen equipment, no special tools are required to make madeleines. And although there's nothing fancy about the pan itself, and it's just made of tin steel,  finding a pan that has shell-shaped indentations proved to be trickier than I thought it would be, at least here in the U.S. You probably won't find this kind of pan at Target or regular stores; you may have to order it online or go to a specialty store; they're much more likely to carry it.

Madeleines

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 8-9 minutes
Makes: about 20-24


Ingredients:

3 eggs.

2/3 cup granulated sugar.

1/8 teaspoon salt.
1 ¼ cups flour.
1 teaspoon baking powder (optional).

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

½ teaspoon lemon zest.
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled.

Additional melted butter for preparing the molds.

Directions:
1. To prepare pan, brush the indentations of a madeleine molds with melted butter. Dust with flour, tap off any excess, and place in the fridge or freezer.
2. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, whip the eggs, granulated sugar, and salt for 5 minutes until frothy and thickened.
3. Spoon in the flour and baking powder, using a spatula to fold in the flour as you sift it over the batter.
4. Add the lemon zest and vanilla to the cooled butter, then dribble the butter into the batter, a few spoonfuls at a time, while folding to incorporate the butter. Fold just until all the butter is incorporated.
5. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (Batter can be chilled for up to 12 hours).
6. To bake the madeleines, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
8. Plop enough batter in the center of each indentation so that they are three-quarters full. Do not spread it.
10. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until the cakes just feel set.

Storage: Madeleines are best left uncovered, or not tightly-wrapped; they’re best eaten the day they’re made. They can be kept in a container for up to three days after baking, if necessary. I don’t recommend freezing them.

Variations:
You can add melted chocolate to the batter, for chocolate madeleines.
Or you can skip the vanilla essence and just flavor with lemon zest, then cover the petite cakes with a lemon glaze for a lemony variety.
Some also like the traditional recipe dipped in chocolate.... you get the idea...