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Madeleines

3/23/2014

Wow, time flies! I didn't get to bake last weekend but I did do a few things this weekend. I have been wanting to do a recipe that I collected when I was in high school. We had one of those semester electives where we baked and cooked.

Madeleines were made famous by Proust who would remember his childhood when smelling madeleines.
Madeleines are recognizable by their ridges on one side and that little bump on the other side. My "bumps" were pretty mild compared to some pictures I've seen. I've read that a way to do this is to actually keep the batter in the fridge for a couple of hours, if not all night. Definitely something to try next time.

There are many recipes for madeleines and the textures vary. They are delicious with a good cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate.
This recipe gives a very cake-like madeleine, reminiscent of the quatre-quart cake. Some people might find it too heavy, although the size should help with that.

Ingredients:

300g flour
300g sugar
250g butter
4 eggs
1 pinch of salt

Preparation:

Preheat the oven at 435 degrees.
Melt the butter.
Beat the eggs until you get a whitened mix.
Add the sugar and keep beating.
Add the cold melted butter.
Add the sifted flour.
Mix.
Butter and flour the molds. Put one table spoon of better in each mold.
Bake for 10 minutes.

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Zucchini bread

3/9/2014

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My daughter has been begging me to make a zucchini bread I made several years ago. It's amazing what stuck in children's minds. They can't remember what you asked them to do 10 minutes ago but can remember a cake from 3 years ago.
So anyway, I went searching through my recipes and found it. So, here it is...

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Notes:

I reduced the amount of sugar by 1 cup. I remember last time that it was quite sweet. This is a bit better.
I have read in the past that one can use apple sauce to replace the oil and I think that is something I plan on doing next time.
The cooking time was off. One of the cakes was done after 65-70 minutes, the other one took an additional 15 minutes. I don't know if it is due to the pan's material (the glass one took longer).

Results:
One word - YUMMY!!!!
It helped to reduce the sugar. I'd probably reduce the cinnamon a bit too. But the cake is nice and moist. You can taste the zucchini without TASTING the zucchini if you know what I mean...

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Shortbread cookies with salted caramel

3/3/2014

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I have found paradise! Kidding... but close...
The challenge this weekend was a recipe taken from the French show "Le meilleur patissier" (The best baker). The part that scared me: making caramel. It turned out to be easier than expected and the result is a divine gooey mess, a finger-licking-good sauce that makes you think about finding as many recipes as you can that need caramel.

Ingredients:
For the cookies:

500g flour
250g softened butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
140g sugar

For the caramel:

200g sugar
160g heavy cream
60g salted butter, cut in small pieces

Notes:
Although I try and keep the same quantities, some substitutions in the ingredients are unavoidable. For example, finding vanilla sugar here requires a trip to a specialty store.

Sugars are also different: Mainly in the US, it is generally made from sugar cane while it is made from sugar beets in Europe. The refining levels are also different. The original recipe called for powdered sugar. I didn't get it, so I used regular sugar. I loved the result, so no worries...

There are three types of butter in France: unsalted, half-salted and salted, based on the percentage of salt in the butter. Our salted butter is more like the French half-salted, therefore any recipe requiring salted butter will be less salted than the French result. Personally, I don't mind, but if you do...

Preparation:
I. Make the caramel:

Make sure your pan is very clean. I used a medium sauce pan.
Pour enough of the sugar in a pan to have a thin opaque layer on the bottom. Heat at low/medium heat.
When the layer starts looking slightly transparent, add mode sugar. Keep doing this until all the sugar is in. Do not disturb the sugar with a spoon or anything.
Let the sugar melt. When all the white is gone, you can start using a wooden spoon. Careful, sugar is very hot and can burn!
In the meantime, boil the heavy cream.
When the sugar is all liquid, remove from heat and slowly pour the boiling cream in it, while whisking it.
Put it back on the heat and keep mixing until it thickens a little. A spoon dipped in it should come out covered.
Add the salted butter and stir until thoroughly blended.
Pour into a bowl, cover, let it cool then store in fridge.

II. Make the cookies

Mix the flour and the butter with your fingers to form a sandy mix.
Add the sugar, vanilla and egg yolks.
Bring the dough together, adding a bit of milk if necessary (I added 1 tbsp).
Film the dough and put in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Spread the dough to a 1/8" thick sheet.
Using a cookie cutter, cut the cookies. In half of them, cut a circle in the middle.
Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes.
When your cookies cool down, assemble them: put a little bit of caramel (careful, when warming up, it starts running) on the bottom cookie and cover with the top cookie, previously powdered.

Enjoy!
Do you have ideas of recipes using caramel?
Share in the comments.

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Madeleines

Zucchini bread

Shortbread cookies with salted caramel

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