In The Kitchen With Fay: Almond Madeleines

This article was written and reported by  Fay Abrahamsson 

This is an easy recipe for sweet, moist and flavorful cake.  If you don't have a special Madeleine pan, no worries, use any pan such as a cupcake tin or sheet pan, just adjust the cooking time. These were simple to make and serve, easy to store, and will travel well. Try them!

Almond Madeleines      

1 ¼ sticks (5 oz.) of butter (if using salted butter, omit the pinch of salt)  2 eggs  1 tsp. pure almond extract  2/3 cup sugar  1 cup flour plus extra for dusting the pan  ½ tsp. baking powder  pinch of salt  Optional: powdered sugar, for dusting the finished Madeleines   

In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Once melted, remove it from the heat and let cool. (For faster cooling, put the entire pan in your refrigerator.)   
Prepare your Madeleine pan: using a pastry brush, “paint” each little Madeleine cup with some of the melted butter. Dust with a little flour and shake to remove excess flour.   

In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs until light and fluffy.  Add almond extract.  Add sugar and whisk together.   

Only when melted butter is cool, whisk it into the egg/sugar mixture (otherwise you’ll have scrambled eggs).  Add flour, baking powder and salt (don’t add the salt if you used salted butter) and whisk slowly until thoroughly combined.   
Set aside batter and let it rest while the oven preheats to 350 degrees.   Drop a spoonful of batter into each Madeleine form.  

Bake at 350 degrees for about 9-10 minutes until very lightly browned.   Remove from oven and place pan on a cool stove burner or rack.  Let cakes cool in pan about 3 minutes.  Using a kitchen knife, gently unmold them from the pan.  Let cool on a cookie rack.      

If desired, serve them with a light dusting of powdered sugar.   Makes one dozen.   

History behind the little cakes: According to my favorite site, Wikipedia, the Madeleine is a small cake with a distinctive shell-like shape due to the form of the traditional baking pan.  Its full name is “The genuine petite Madeleine de Commercy" and originated from Commercy and Liverdun, in the Lorraine region in northeastern France.   

Sources say Madeleines were named after Madeleine Paulmier, who some say was a 19th century pastry cook; others say she lived in the 18th century and cooked for Stanisław Leszczyński, whose son-in-law, Louis XV of France, named them after her.   Either century, thank you Madeleine Paulmier!