Sweet madeleines, sweet memories.

I can't wait to share THE highlight of my Paris trip and finally, this came in the mail couple days ago!
I've been huge fan of Dorie Greenspan since I started to get serious with baking. I am so inspired by her work, her culinary adventures, her career......by Dorie.
It was our second day in Paris. We walked into

Promenades Gourmandes early in the morning and much to my surprise, there was Dorie Greenspan, chatting with a couple of other class participants!! Alright, that was down-playing it, I was simply flabbergasted!. Dorie Greenspan!! The author & co-author of nine cookbooks, including the glorious Baking with Julia Child, Pierre Hermé's Desserts and Chocolate Desserts, Café Boulud Cookbook with Daniel Boulud, Paris Sweets: Great Desserts From the City's Best Pastry Shops, and more recently, her own cookbook: Baking: From My Home to Yours, just to name a few. Dorie's also the contributing editor to Parade magazine, Bon Appétit, five-time winner of the James Beard & IACP awards, James Beard's Who's Who of Food and Beverage America, food critic, special appearances on FoodNetwork and a lengthy list of accolades that I personally think, deserves a book of its own! That was THE Dorie Greenspan sitting in Paule's living room, right in front of me! I was awe-struck! As the introductions were made, all I could think to myself at that time was "Dorie Greenspan! Wow! How fortunate can I be?" Just a few days prior to the encounter, I was reading her blog, carefully taking notes of all the interesting culinary adventures in Paris for our trip. Up to just a week before, I was diligently studying the vanilla pastry cream recipe from Dorie's and Pierre's Desserts , then made a batch of pastry cream for another heavenly honey-toasted almond cake for D's holiday office party. Up to a month ago, all I had wanted was to win the Bon Appétit's Holiday Bakeoff so that I could visit New York for a chance to meet with Bon Appétit's editors, including Dorie Greenspan. And there was Ms. Greenspan! Just standing right next to me, in person, in Paris and we were going to spend half a day baking together! It was so surreal.
The return and reward from this class were beyond the expectations I had when I first signed up for it (more on that in future posts) Hanging out with Dorie for three-and-a-half hours was simply, one of the best highlight of my Paris trip! She was so down-to-earth and easy to talk to. It was hard for me to concentrate on the instructor's teaching as I had so many questions for Dorie. Does baking really need to be exact and scientific? What butter do you use when you bake at home? What's the secret to your success? Can I be your apprentice? Well, I didn't exactly ask the last two. I'm sure my questions distracted her from concentrating on the class, but Dorie was so patient and answered every single one of them, even though there were times we had to pause when the instructor was expanding on important details. Such warm and endearing personality! So today, I want to start my first bake in twenty-ten with something that would not only remind me of Paris but something sweet from Dorie's book.

Madeleines. Little tea-cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape. What's lesser known is that madeleines are also sometimes called Proust's cookies. I'm not entirely sure if I agree with it being called a cookie. Its texture is more cake-like, combining the richness and moistness of a butter cake with the lightness of a sponge cake. The episode of the madeleines was featured in Marcel Proust's most prominent work In Search of Lost Time (originally translated as Remembrance of Things Past) where the author wrote about how the taste of a little crumb of a madeleine triggered vivid memories from his past.



Mariage Frères Earl Grey Madeleines (Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan, pages 20-21).
Ingredients:
105 grams (3/4 cup all-purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
2 eggs at room temperature 65 grams (1/3 cup sugar)
2 tablespoons honey
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons Earl Grey tea; allow tea to infuse for ~ 3 minutes before straining out the leaves and discarding them. Dorie suggested Mariage Frères' Earl Grey Impériale. (I used what I had in stock, Earl Grey French Blue from Mariage Frères)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
70 grams (2 1/2 ounces unsalted butter, melted and cooled to yield ~ 5 tablespoons

Method:
1. Sift flour and baking powder together.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat room-temperature eggs and sugar together at medium-high speed until they thicken and lighten in color (~2 - 4 minutes)
3. Beat in lemon zest, honey and vanilla extract.
4. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder mixture
5. Add the tea to the melted butter once it's cooled
6. Fold the melted butter-tea mixure into the batter
7. Cover batter with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and chill for at least 3 hours. Chilling helps the batter develop its characteristic crown (known as the hump or bump)
8. Preheat oven to 400˚F. Generously butter and flour madeleine pans (not applicable to silicon pans)
9. Divide the batter among the molds, filling them almost to the top then bake the madeleines for ~ 11-13 minutes (for large madeleines) or 8-10 minutes for smaller ones.
10. Once ready, remove the pans from the oven and remove the madeleines by either rapping the pan against the counter or gently running a butter knife around the edges to help loosen the cake from the mold. Place on cooling rack to cool.
I also made another batch of lemon madeleines. Just increase the amount of sugar to 100 grams, substitute the honey with lemon juice and of course, omit the tea. They are were wonderful (just checked the cookie jar!).
Note: I learnt from another professional culinary instructor that piping the batter into the madeleine pans, then allowing it to set for ~ 30 minutes will help the madeleines develop more distinct and deeper scallopped ridges.
Also, since I have a temperamental oven, I baked my madeleines at 350˚F for 9 minutes (11 minutes for the lemon madeleines).
Creating my own Proustian moment. It's sweet when you get to bake with Dorie! Je suis heureuse! I am happy!