madleines. typical french snack. every pastry shop has them.
in the last week of my internship i was stationed at the oven post and i got to breakfast them every morning.
with their beautiful seashell form it does not only taste great, but it looks lovely as well!
moist on the inside, crisp on the outside.
full of buttery goodness.
and some full of chocolate.
one can use the batter in larger forms and it still has a great taste.
but the smaller forms allows the pastry to stay nice and moist on the inside and develop a nice crust.
it's a great contrast when you pop a mini into your mouth or take a bite off of a bigger one.
i bought silicon molds for madleines to make them look like they should.
the forms did not cost much (between 8-15 euro) and i ordered them over the internet.
the minis are about 3 cm long, the bigger ones 7 cm.
it's so much fun baking with silicon forms because they are easy to clean and the baked good can be popped right out of the form. simple as that!
and the recipe is very simple as well.
madleines
125g butter
125g powdered sugar
150g eggs
5g baking powder
125g flour
1/4 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
100g chocolate, chopped (optional)
melt butter.
beat in powdered sugar until smooth.
beat in eggs one at a time.
add vanilla.
i use a vanilla extract that includes vanilla bean seeds.
mix in flour, baking powder and salt.
(add chopped chocolate, mix.)
let sit overnight in refrigerator.
fill into forms and bake at 180 degrees celcius for around 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
wait a moment for the madleines to cool and pop them out of the forms and transfer them to a rack.
pop into your mouth!
notes
apart from using vanilla extract with vanilla bean seeds or using a real vanilla bean altogether, you should be aware that a recipe of so few ingredients stands or falls with the quality of the ingredients.
please use good butter, please use fresh eggs and quality salt, vanilla and chocolate.
it will make all the difference!
