Lydia’s Cozy Corner

Wow, is it already Friday? This week has flown by!!!

As I promised in my previous post, here is a DELICIOUS recipe for Madeleine Cookies taken from Bon Appetit Magazine (January 2000 issue).

My first experience with Madeleine’s were the ones they sell at Starbuck’s. I fell in love with them, but I always just thought there was some special trick to making these buttery cookies. I don’t know if it was the special pan you must have to make them (which I came to find out you can easily purchase at your local kitchen store for about $15) or the delicate look and delicious taste, but for some reason I always thought these would be complicated cookies.BUT, they’re NOT…instead they are totally on the opposite end of the complicated spectrum. They are easy! The ingredients are basic: eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour, lemon, salt, and butter. Practically everyone has those items in their cupboard. You don’t have to do anything complicated in the baking process either. The hardest thing is probably melting the butter and waiting for it to cool before mixing it in with the other ingredients. Like I said, not complicated. And, the best part, you ask?? They only take about 10 or so minutes to bake… so you can munch on the sweet goodness as soon as it pops out of the oven.

So, are you ready? Here’s the step by step process of, oh so yummy and delicious, Madeleine cookies..Like I said, B-A-S-I-C ingredients,… eggs, flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon, salt, and powdered sugar for dusting.

I just realized the eggs and powdered sugar are hiding. WHOOPS! The sugar and flour are resting on the egg carton and the powdered sugar is in the green canister. Whew….almost had a crisis.So, the only complicated parts? You’ll need to melt and slightly cool your butter before mixing the ingredients, you MUST have a madeleine pan, and you’ll need a lemon zester.Lets start with the butter-buttery melting part.First, cut up and melt 10 tbsp. of unsalted butter.I threw mine in a pyrex measuring cup,…melted it in the microwave, and then let it sit while I began to prepare the rest of the ingredients.While your butter is slightly cooling, pull out your Madeleine pan. This is what it looks like.And, here’s an artsy picture I liked. You can’t really see the full size of the pan, but I liked this picture. Therefore, I am putting it up!Butter your pan generously. Bon Appetit also recommended flouring the pan. I did this on the first batch of cookies, but later decided to not add the flour. My madeleine pan was already nonstick, so it was really not that necessary to flour it. Whatever you like, though,…Then, the mixing begins!!Crack your two eggs into a large bowl…

Then pour in 2/3 cup of sugar.Blend the eggs and sugar together. Like my new green blender? Can you tell I like the color green? I got it on sale at Williams and Sonoma with some Christmas gift cards. I like gift cards… they are wonderful.Then comes the lime lemon zest. See the lime lemon zester in my hands? I got it from my husband, last year, in my stocking. If you didn’t get one in your stocking this year, you can buy one of them at Williams and Sonoma if you like,… maybe YOU have some leftover giftcards from Christmas (?) or, you can always get one at Bed, Bath, and Beyond… they do have the 20% coupons there. If you don’t have a coupon, contact me. I hoard them like crazy,… collect them like baseball cards,… and I probably have about 30 of them at home. Call me.So,… back to the lemon zester. All you do is take the zesting side, push it against the lemon and drag. The zester will produce beautiful curls of lemon skin like this. Pretty!

Zest until you have 1/2 teaspoon of lemon grated peel.Throw the lemon zest into the egg and sugar mixture, along with 1 tsp. of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.Then mix it all together.Throw a cup of flour into the wet ingredients and mix together.Make sure to not overmix. It should look something like this.Remember the butter that is cooling? Now’s the time to add it!!Smooth, buttery goodness.After it is mixed, drop about a tablespoon of dough into each indentation.Bake the cookies for 10-17 minutes at 375 degrees (It only took my oven about 10 minutes).After they come out of the oven, pop them out of the pan with a spatula .They should look slightly brown around the edges when they are done.Then take your powdered sugar and lightly dust each cookie.Aren’t they beautiful?I think Madeleine’s are such dainty and delicate looking cookies.

***Gourmet Madeleine Cookies (taken from January 2000 Bon Appetit Magazine)

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. grated lemon peel

1 pinch of salt

1 cup all purpose flour

10 tablespoons of melted and slightly cooled butter

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 375°F

Generously butter and flour pan for large madeleines (about 3×1 1/4 inches).