Madeleines are tiny cake-like cookies with a distinctive shell shape. They’ve been given this name by king Louis XV to honor his father in-law’s cook Madeleine Paulmier. Louis taste these cookies at the Chateau Commercy in 1755, but it was his wife, Marie who introduced them to the court. Everyone loved them so they soon became the norm at Versailles. But they became famous years later when Marcel Proust described them in one of his books.
From In Remembrances of Things Past:
“…when one day in winter, on my return home, my mother, seeing that I was cold, offered me some tea, a thing I did not ordinarily take. I declined at first, and then, for no particular reson, changed my mind. She sent for one of those squat, plump little cakes called petites madeleines, which look as though they had been molded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell. And soon, mechanically, dispirited after a dreavy day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of a cake.
No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shiver 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 the effect, which love has, of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me, it-was-me. I had ceased now to feel mediocre, contingent, mortal. When could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy?
I sensed that it was connected with the taste of the tea and the cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savors…”
Isn’t that a great way to describe the sensations of eating a piece of cake that totally blows your mind away and sets your world straight?!
Needless to say that this description was enough to make me wanna bake madeleines. And not just any recipe, but Gaston Lenotre’s failproof recipe! I’m gonna be honest and admit that I’ve been trying a few madeleine recipes over the last couple of months, but none seemed to have been worth being published on the blog…. until now! So I give you Lemon Madeleines – these tiny, golden brown, fragrant, fluffy, delicious cakelike cookies that couldn’t have come to a better time. Weather is changing here, it’s getting colder and my need of baking little treats is growing at a fast pace. I just feel like turning the oven on and warming the house up with little goodies to chew on! It’s pretty mesmerizing how our needs change with seasons and I just love how the ingredient list changes as well.
- 4 whole eggs
- 180g white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 55g honey
- 275g all-purpose flour
- 15g baking powder
- 2g salt
- 225g butter, melted and chilled
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- Sift the flour with salt and baking powder.
- Combine the eggs and sugar in a bowl and mix for 5 minutes or until double in volume.
- Stir in the vanilla then add the honey and mix for another 2 minutes.
- Add the flour and mix just until combined.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Remove from the fridge and stir in the melted butter, gradually, and lemon zest.
- In the meantime, brush your madeleine pans with butter (even if you're using silicone pans I recommend greasing them because it yields a better crust)
- Spoon the batter in a pastry bag fitted with a round nozzle an pipe it into each cavity of your pans, filling them ¾.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 420F and bake for 7-8 minutes or until golden brown. Don't bake more than required as they tend to dry out!
ROMANIAN
Dincolo de nevoia de a manca pentru a supravietui ori transformarea acestei mancari in arta pura, dincolo de studiu si experimente exista anumite mancaruri/prajituri/ingrediente care ne trezesc amintiri, care declanseaza emotii ori ne induc anumite stari. Avem fiecare dintre noi gusturi pe care le asociem unor perioade din viata noastra, cel mai adesea copilaria. Fie ca e o paine abia scoasa din cuptor ori gustul de lapte praf ori ciocolata de casa sau tocanita de cartofi, aceste arome ne aduc in prim plan amintiri, ne intoarcem in timp si ne simtim din nou copii, retraim acele momente, ne intoarcem exact in acea zi ori in acel moment, simturile ne sunt inundate cu imagini, sunete, mirosuri.
Printr-o astfel de experienta au devenit si madlenele cunoscute, celebra fiind descrierea pe care Proust o face momentului in care gusta dintr-o madlena, cu toate ca la el madlena era mai degraba metafora si filosofie decat chimie si cofetarie: “Intr-o zi de iarna, intorcandu-ma acasa, mama, vazand ca imi este frig, imi propuse, importiva obiceiului meu, sa beau putin ceai. Am refuzat la inceput si, nu stiu de ce, m-am razgandit. E trimise dupa una din prajiturile scurte si durdulii numite madlene, care parca ar fi fost turnate in ghiocul scobit al unei scoici Saint-Jacques. Si curand, in mod masinal, coplesit de ziua mohorata si perspectiva trista a zilei de maine, am dus la gura o lingurita de ceai in care inmuiasem o bucata de madlena. Dar chiar in clipa in care inghititura amestecata cu firimiturile prajiturii imi atinsera cerul gurii, am tresarit, atent la lucrul extraordinar care se petrecea cu mine. O placere fermecatoare ma cuprinse, ma izolase, fara sa am notiunea ce o pricinuise. Si dintr-o data vicisitudinele vietii imi devenira indiferente, problemele sale inofensive, efemeritatea iluzorie – aceasta noua senzatie avusese efectul pe care iubirea il are, acela de a ma umple de esenta; sau mai degraba aceasta esenta nu era in mine, ci ma definea. Am incetat sa ma simt mediocru, contingent, muritor….. Am simtit ca totul era legat de gustul ceaiului si a madlenei, dar ca trecuse dincolo de aceasta limita de un infinit de ori. ”
Istoria madlenei insa nu incepe cu mult timp inainte de cartea lui Proust, undeva prin secolul al XVIII lea, in timpul regelui Ludovic al XV-lea. Se pare ca prajiturelele au aparut in oraselul francez Commercy si au fost cunoscute la curtea regala de Marie, sotia regelui.
Recunoasteti madlenele nu doar prin forma lor emblematica de scoica, ci si prin tehnica de realizare, fiind prajituri al caror aluat se lasa la odihnit in frigider, acest pas ajutandu-le sa formeze “perla” din scoica. Sunt prajituri-fursecuri care se coc rapid la temperatura inalta pentru a forma crusta si a ramane moi si pufoase la interior si vin intr-o multime de variante, de la cele simple la cele cu ciocolata, cu nuca, cu citrice ori in doua culori. Din pacate, nu sunt prajituri prea vizibile, cel putin nu la noi si nu prea le-am vazut prin cofetarii. Pe nedrept de altfel, caci sunt delicioase alaturi de o cana de ceai ori de lapte cald!
Reteta de astazi vine de la Gaston Lenotre, parintele cofetariei clasice, cel fara de care cofetaria nu ar fi ajuns la nivelul de arta la care e acum!
- 4 oau intregi
- 180g zahar
- 1 lingurita extract de vanilie
- 55g miere
- 275g faina alba
- 15g praf de copt
- 2g sare
- 225g unt, topit si racit
- 1 lingura coaja de lamaie
- Incepeti prin a cerne faina cu sarea si praful de copt.
- Combinati ouale si zaharul intr-un bol si mixati pana isi dubleaza volumul.
- Adaugati vanilia si mierea si mixati bine.
- Incorporati amestecul de faina apoi acoperiti vasul si dati la rece o ora.
- Dupa o ora, incorporati untul topit si racit, precum si coaja de lamaie.
- Puneti aluatul intr-un pos cu dui rotund apoi umpleti formele de madlene pe ¾. (va recomand sa ungeti formele cu unt, chiar daca sunt din silicon, intrucat crusta va fi mai buna).
- Coaceti in cuptorul preincalzit la 220C pentru 7-8 minute sau pana devin usor aurii, dar mare atentie sa nu le coaceti prea mult!
In sfarsit,le-am facut!
Foarte diferite de ce stiam si,bineinteles delicioase.
Multumesc pentru minunatiile ce le faci.si le impartasesti cu noi!