Battle ReCPY: Madeleines (Mary Ann + Marcus)

Since I got a nice Williams-Sonoma gift card for the holidays, I went there to hunt for things I wanted, but didn't necessarily need. Aside from multi-color paper muffin cups for my MOffins and new sheet pans for my macarons, I also picked up a madeleine pan. I don't know why but the shiny pan, with its non-stick coating was calling for me. The shell shape is so elegant, and the presence of madeleines make any gathering look so grown-up. Another great creation by skinny French people.

But these madeleines are super unhealthy, though. One entire stick of butter in 12 of them. No wonder they taste so good.

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
60g (or about 1/4 cup) of sugar
3 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp baking powder
100 gram flour
1 stick of butter

METHOD

For the first batch, I made browned butter.



After you melt the butter, it starts to sizzle. You want all the water in the butter to evaporate, and shortly after you don't hear any noise, it will to brown. As soon you see some color, immediately take it off the heat since it will continue browning from the heat of the pan. Set it aside.

Browned butter smells very nutty.



Mix the two eggs and sugar over a double boiler to melt all the sugar completely.





Add honey, mix altogether, then mix int he flour/baking powder. Once everything is combined, add butter, mix well. [Sorry there's no pictures for these processes]

What's very important here is to rest the batter in the fridge for at least two hours. So when you are making this, think about when you want to serve them. I usually make the batter a day before, and keep the batter in fridge for a day.

Then pour the batter into the pan.

IMPORTANT POINT #1: DO NOT FILL THE MADELEINE MOLDS WITH BATTER COMPLETELY.

I somehow only filled ten out of 12. Some recipes say to fill it 3/4, but 1/2 is fine.



Failure #1: Over-filled the pan. By over-filling the batter, it takes longer to bake, and the burn as well. These were baked at 425˚F.



They do not look like madeleines at all--they look like Madeleine's fat cousin in America, Mary Ann.

No strong shell shape:



With a sharp kitchen shears, I trimmed the sides. They look alright.



Some edges were crispy, others were totally burnt.



As you all know by now, when I fail at cooking something, I have a re-battle to perfect it.

So I tried again with the same recipe, and didn't fill the pan this time.



Failure #2: Oven temperature might have been too high. These were at 425˚F again.

Edges are a bit burnt.



You can see the shell shape, but something was off.

IMPORTANT POINT #2: BE SURE TO GENEROUSLY SPRAY PAN WITH NON-STICK SPRAY (or butter), even if the pan is non-stick coated.

Otherwise, the madeleines look like this:



They look like Madeleine's crippled nephew in London, Marcus.

Since these are way too high in calories, it's not an every day dessert. But I need to perfect these. I am also thinking about making a batch using rice flour, to make MOdeleines.

The battle will continue next week...