earl gray madelines

[squeeeb]

Proust loved em, you should try them.

madelines. madelines are little sea shell looking tasty cookies that go great with tea, coffee, or even a glass of milk.

it might look like a lot of work, but they are easy...seriously, give em a try.

you need:

a madeline pan.
butter
earl gray tea (loose or 2 tea bags) (you can make it without the tea, the tea just adds flavor. you can use lavender if you want. fuck, you can use garlic if you are into it. the gist is, you can infuse the butter with a flavor or not, up to you).
2 eggs
sugar
1 cup sifted flour
vanilla
honey
brandy if you got it


melt 3/4 of a cup, plus a tablespoon or two of unsalted butter. BUTTER, not margarine. put about 2 tablespoons of loose earl gray tea, or two tea bags, and let it sit there thinking about how tasty it's gonna be as it cools. if you are not using tea and just using butter, it still has to sit there, thinking, and cooling.

preheat your oven to 350. put 2 eggs and 1 cup of sugar in a large bowl over boiling water, don't let the bowl touch the water. a double boiler is what this is. i use a pot of boiling water and a glass bowl.

whisk the eggs and sugar until they are luke warm, don't cook them. they are luke warm when you put a drop on your wrist and don't' feel any temperature difference. it will be a bit watery.

take off heat, add a squirt of honey and blend using an electric blender until its all foamy and thick and about doubled. add flour, about 1/3 of a cup at a time, until blended, scraping down sides of bowl as you go. (wear an apron, flour goes everywhere when it hits the blender. at least when i do it).

strain the tea out of the butter and add 3/4 cup of the butter to the batter with some vanilla and brandy, about a teaspoon or so each, more brandy if you want. it will look like waaaaay too much butter for the amount of batter, but that's the secret to madelines. keep folding (not mixing, folding) the butter into the batter until it is all incorporated.

remember the remaining butter? use it to butter and flour a madeline pan. even if you have a "no stick" pan like i thought i had. you don't. put a dollop of batter in each shell and bake in your 350 oven for 6 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake for another 5-6 minutes, 11-12 minutes total, depending on your oven, elevation, etc.

why do i rotate the pan? i don't know, that's how i learned to do it, so i always do it that way now. i guess you don't have to if you don't want to.

[BadNick]

I love those things ...at least the ones I buy from in front of the register while waiting for my coffee at Starbucks. I bet homemade would be way better so I'll try your recipe.

[Willravel]

I tried Christmas madelines with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and such.

This, though, looks to combine some of my favorite flavors. I adore earl gray and madelines... I'll be giving this a try. Maybe this afternoon.

[vanblah]

Originally Posted by squeeeb

why do i rotate the pan? i don't know, that's how i learned to do it, so i always do it that way now. i guess you don't have to if you don't want to.

You turn the pan to bake things evenly. Ovens have hot spots and cool spots.

If you have a good convection oven you don't really need to do this.

Nice recipe, BTW.

[xxxafterglow]

Mmm yeah! I don't have a madeleine pan so I make Earl Grey tea cookies. You can add tea to any recipe - just grind it up first with a mortar/pestle. I add some orange blossom water to bump the bergamot a little.