These were superb, and I have to disagree with the reviewer who said a good Madeleine should be dense and buttery (like the ones from Starbucks). Have you ever had a REAL French Madeleine? They're lighter than air. Starbucks serves very nice molded pound cakes, NOT Madeleines.
Easy and precise. For those who have similar questions like me. You need a madeleines pan. I got mine at Bed bath and beyond. I used muffins pan earlier and it was a disaster. If you wonder whether baking powder is needed like in other recipe and the answer is no. Make sure the eggs mix is thick before you fold in flour and butter it took about 10 minutes at high speed.
I am a real beginner, but I had no trouble with this recipe at all. The hard part, actually, was selecting a madeleine pan - there were many different ones to choose from at the cooking supply store, from $10.00 - $79.00, depending on size and material. I bought the $10.00 metal one (which makes one dozen 3" madeleines), and it worked absolutely fine. So no need to spend a fortune to get good results.
These are the best madeleines I have ever made. This was the pastry that Marcel Proust enjoyed for inspiration - and it seems to have worked for him! The only problem with the recipe is that it yields so few of the cookies. I doubled the recipe last time and I only made about 16 servings. My madeleine pan is a little bit larger but still the cookies were gone in less than fifteen minutes. Usually a good thing but I had wanted to enjoy a couple later. I added a touch of honey and I thought it turned out to be phenomenal. Good luck and thanks for the recipe!
Perfect recipe!! Whole family loved these delicate cookies. I bought my pan a year ago and finally made madeleines. Like other reviewer said no need to by expensive non stick pan grease and flour as directed and they pop out fine. I even greased and dusted with sugar instead of flour worked great. These are authentic in taste light and airy. If you want dense ones (like what starbucks sells) you can double the butter; but then you are really eating mini pound cakes not madeleines. I had to beat the eggs/sugar mixture the full 10 minutes. I think this is the first recipe I reviewed that was 100% accurate and did not need one thing changed to perfect!!!
I used part cake flour (about one third of the total) owing to a Cook's Illustrated recipe and I added 1/4tsp orange flower water. They were heavenly. And they looked so perfect that they could have come from a bakery. Thanks for this keeper!
Very Good. Used my kitchen aid mixture. Did not fold in flour and zest. Just threw it in and blended it a little.
Update: 1/1/10
I would definitely recommend folding in the zest and flour. It will allow your batter to stay fluffy. My daughter and I visited the French Pastry School in Chicago and were taught how to make them. The key is to butter and flour every nook and cranny of the madeleine pan, so they come out perfectly shaped showing those deep ridges. If you get the belly bump, that's considered perfect. I never knew that, I thought they were incorrectly done if you had a bump. Well, those are tips straight from the horses mouth. Oh, I used a metal pan from Sur La Table. I'm one of those people who are wary of these non-stick/silicone/caphalon pans/cooking utensils. Its more work, but our grandparents did it, so can we!
THESE WERE GREAT! I made them for my social studies class and they loved them. I did the chocolate version. They are delicious, light, fluffy, and perfect in general. MMMMM.
This recipe is horrible! Does not taste like Madeleines at all. Madeleines are not supposed to be light and airy. They should be dense and butter-y like Starbucks!
