As it turns out, my interest in this whole ‘blogification of baking‘ thing is pretty dependant on having nice photos. Thus, summer came and went bloglessly. I baked many things — even took some photos with blogging intent — but the Culinary Klepto spark had gone the moment I moved away from my (ex)flatmate’s fancy camera. And tripod. Ye gads, I loved that tripod.
But now it would seem I’m back. I’ve got access to another lovely camera (albeit, not >as< lovely) and am ready to get blogging again! To celebrate, I’m posting one of my summer bakes: almond madeleines dipped in chocolate. These tiny French delights were worth every bit of effort it took to make them.
Ingredients:
4 eggs
180 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
130 g flour
50 g almonds, ground
112.5 g butter, melted and cooled (approximately, har har)
Extra butter, soft and nearly melted, to grease the pan.
Use a pastry brush to coat your madeleine pan with butter, then dust it with flour (over a sink). Shake and tap it to spread the flour evenly, then invert and tap to get rid of any extra.
Sift your flour (130 g) into a bowl and stir in your ground almonds. Set aside. (left photo below)
In a large bowl, mix together your eggs (4), sugar (180 g), and salt (1/2 tsp) on a medium speed until light and thick, somewhat like mousse, approximately 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract (1 tsp).
Gradually sprinkle the flour/ground almonds on top of the wet mixture and stir. (photos below) You don’t want to just dump it on or it sinks to the bottom and clumps. Think snowshoes rather than stilettos. *hahaha…Canadian humour…*
Gently fold in the melted butter (112.5 g) then chill for one hour.
Heat the oven to 170 C fan (190 non fan)
Put a tablespoon of batter in each mould (see below) and bake for 8-9 minutes. Makes 24 madeleines.
Make sure to completely cool and grease your pan before cooking the second batch. I just turned my pan upside down, ran cold water over it, then wiped out the moulds with paper towel before re-greasing/flouring.
Once all your madeleines are cooked, melt some chocolate, dip them in, then lay them to cool on a sheet of parchment paper. I made a double batch and did half of mine in dark chocolate and half in milk chocolate.
Madeleines are best enjoyed within a day or two, so it’s your duty to eat them up quickly!
Better late than never!
TCK
The Culinary Klepto 