mimi's attempt at a proustian-worthy madeleine

first, wow, this is my 100th post! who knew it would be coming along like this? it's been a joy not only to play around with my food, learn new baking skills, and get a phat camera ... but what i didn't expect was how much i enjoy reading other people's food blogs. so the past couple of months have been quite a treat. i'm proud i've reached 100 and i look forward to my 1000th :)

so it's an hour before midnight. we've spent a lazy evening watching the mets. now what? oh please i don't even have to tell you what happened! i ended up in the kitchen.


i ate my first madeleine this past christmas. i loved them. so one of the first things i bought when i started baking was a special pan to make my own. all four of my baking books have a madeleine recipe, and surely there are more in my google reader too. but i chose julia's recipe (with flo braker) because i loved how it was written. and it didn't require chilling time, which is a make or break deal an hour before midnight. plus! it required me to fold "gingerly" ... which is like telling me to stop dancing, almost impossible to do! there really is nothing ginger about me! so i was on to this challenge!

and guess what? oops, i think gingerly turned a little bit too eagerly when the flour wasn't incorporating that well. but i piped the batter and hoped for the best. they didn't brown as much as i like (although, are they supposed to be browned? i know the classic french hate brown omelettes, maybe true for madeleines too?) and i think i prefer the full sized versions. they did pop right out and were tasty. i was happy to have made my first (albeit modified with yolks) génoise, but i think next time, i'm going to try this recipe instead. looks delish, doesn't it?

from ginger ...

... to eager

ladyfinger génoise
from baking with julia (1996, p. 41)

3 tb butter, melted
1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs, room temp
4 large egg yolks, room temp
1 tsp vanilla

1. pour melted butter into bowl and set aside. sift flour, 1 tb of sugar, and salt together and set aside.

2. put eggs, yolks, and 1 tb of sugar into mixer with whisk attachment. beat just to combine. add remaining sugar and whisk on medium until airy, pale, and tripled in size, like softly whipped cream, about 4-5 minutes. you know you're ready when you lift the whisk and the mixture falls back into the bowl in a ribbon that rests on the surface, instead of sinking right into the mix. pour vanilla during last moments of whipping.

3. sprinkle about one third of flour mixture into batter and fold, stopping as soon as flour is incorporated. fold in rest of flour in two more additions. the eggs and sugar batter will deflate, don't worry, but go gently.

4. spoon about 1 cup of the batter into the bowl with the butter and fold. fold this butter mixture into the batter (mixing it first helps to incorporate it more easily).

5. use immediately with a buttered/floured madeleine pan in a pre-heated oven at 400F. regular size should take about 10 minutes, minis about 7 or so.