Recipe: Madeleines for gloworm/nj

Here's the recipe I mentioned from The Martha Stewart Cookbook.

Madeleines - Makes 36

Madeleine tins are essential for this recipe.

4 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 375 deg.F. Butter and flour madeleine pans thoroughly.

Beat the eggs, salt and sugar together until thick, about 8 minutes. Add the vanilla. Fold in the flour, rapidly but gently. Fold in the butter gently, but make sure it does not settle to the bottom. Quickly spoon the mixture into madeleine pans. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool on racks.

Note: Madeleines may be dusted with vanilla confectioners' sugar after baking.

Vanilla Sugar - Makes 3 cups

This keeps indefinitely, and it adds a wonderfully elusive flavor to many desserts.

1 vanilla bean
3 cups sugar

Split the vanilla bean and put it in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Pour in the sugar, put on the lid, and set aside for a week, shaking the jar from time to time. Replenish the jar with more sugar as you use it up.