Recipe: Madeleines (with chocolate and whole wheat variations, Fannie Farmer Baking Book)

MADELEINES

"These plump little cakes, made with a butter sponge-cake batter, batter made famous by the French writer Marcel Proust in Swann's Way. Delicately flavored, they are baked in heavily buttered, special shell-shaped molds in a very hot oven and are crisp on the bottom."

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (or 2 teaspoons grated orange rind)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
8 tablespoons (1 stick or 1/2 cup) butter, melted and cooled slightly plus 4 tablespoons softened butter
Confectioner's sugar (optional, for garnish)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Smear about 1/2 teaspoon softened butter over the inside of each form of the madeleine pan. Be sure to completely cover with butter - don't leave any bare spots.

Combine the eggs, sugar and lemon or orange rind in a large mixing bowl and stir them together. Set in a pan of simmering water and stir until the egg mixture is very warm to your finger. Remove from the heat and beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy, pale yellow and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt.

Dump the flour into a sifter or strainer, sprinkle half of it over the egg mixture and fold it in. Pour in 8 tablespoons of melted butter and sprinkle on the remaining flour, and fold gently just until the batter is mixed. Spoon a generous tablespoon of batter into each prepared mold; do not spread it evenly; it will level itself in the oven.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until the edges of the cakes are golden and they lift easily from the molds. Remove from the oven, slipping the tines of a table fork under each cookie to free it, and transfer the Madeleines to a rack to cool. Serve within a few hours, or wrap them airtight and freeze.

Serve plain, or sprinkle the ribbed side with confectioners' sugar.

NOTE: If you have only one pan, and can bake only 12 at a time, the mold cool, wipe it out, grease with butter, then refill with batter and bake again.

VARIATIONS:

CHOCOLATE MADELEINES:
These are bittersweet, dense, and chocolaty.
Reduce the flour to 2/3 cup and add 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa together twice before adding them to the batter.

WHOLE WHEAT MEDELEINES:
Drier and not as light as other Medeleines, these are especially good for dunking.
Substitute 1 cup less 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour for the white flour.

Makes 24 Madeleines
Adapted from source: The Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham