chez pim

Candied Kumquats or Mandarinquats

I must confess to you I was never a big fan of kumquats, that is, until I was introduced to a very special tree. Not a kumquat tree exactly, but a mandarinquat tree, a cross between--you guessed it--mandarin and kumquat.

Kumquats are very fragrant, but the astringent skin and acidic flesh never did much for me. One bite into a mandarinquat from that tree, however, won me over entirely. I was seduced by the amazing fragrant and the astonishingly sweet rind. There was still a tang from the acidic flesh, but only just enough to add intrigue without being overwhelming. I ate handfuls after handfuls that day, right from the tree--like candy, albeit a very grown-up kind.

Besides being far more flavorful than regular kumquats, mandarinquats are also quite a bit prettier. Instead of the pale yellow skin and simple oblong shape of the kumquats, mandarinquats are rounder and more like a tear drop in shape, with deep orange, mandarin-like skin. I also find that mandarinquat's rind is a bit thinner than kumquats.

I went up the hills to visit Gene at his fabled citrus grove this weekend, and of course I stopped by to say hi to the tree. It's still bearing loads of fruits, but I knew the season was nearly over. I must do something to stretch it just a bit longer. So, I came home with a big bagful of mandarinquats and set out to candy them.

Quince Caramels - Caramels aux Coings

I am going a bit mad for caramels, can you tell? I'm blaming it all on Heidi who instigated this round of my caramel lust. So, what did I do this time? I made quince caramels. Isn't that such a pretty-sounding name, quince caramels? And let me tell you they taste just as lovely. Actually, before you read any further, I should warn you that if you didn't like quince, you should just stop now. Because what we are about get to is one of the quince-y-est of quince flavors, so if you didn't like the taste to begin with you might as well not waste your time, or mine.

Last weekend, after our visit to that hidden citrus grove somewhere in the hills above Watsonville, ostensibly to pick some fruits for a special dinner at Manresa this week, I somehow came home with two big bagfuls of quince. I know we were there for the citrus, which were wonderful and quite worthy of a post on their own soon, but what also caught my eyes, and my nose in fact, were two giant quince trees bearing the most fragrant fruits. Even the sticky and thorny underbrush around them couldn't deter me. Kendra, the new pastry chef at Manresa, and I fought over the choice fruits. She turned hers into delicious Membrillo - that's for another day and another post too.

The fuzzy, fragrant fruits stared at me from the countertop for a couple of days. I thought I would poach them in simple syrup and keep in the fridge. The sweetened quince and the poaching syrup make a wonderful topping for my morning yogurt. The batch that my neighbor Beccy and I made a couple of weeks ago is running out, so this would be a good time to replenish. Then the real inspiration struck, caramel! I could use the sweet poaching liquid to make quince caramels, combining two of my favorite things to eat in the world, caramel and quince – I just love quince, I even love a restaurant named after it. How wonderful would that be?

The best ever salted butter caramels, what a delicious mistake!

I've had a few near disaster in the kitchen lately, and that's not counting this morning when I nearly sawed off my index finger with a bread knife. Blood and gore aside, I've also had a few great accidental "discoveries" as well. One of those resulted in the pretty caramels wrapped in parchment that you see in the picture above.

My friend Heidi recently wrote about her espresso caramels, which got me craving one of my favorite sweets, the salted butter caramels, caramel au beurre salé, from Brittany. A great balance between salty and sweet, chewy and meltingly soft, those caramels are the stuff of foodie dreams. I buy an arm load every time I come across them, but somehow they are never on hand when I crave one. Heidi's post inspired me to make some caramels of my own.

I have some homemade salted butter left – made from the milk from our Normande cow share - but I wasn't sure if I wanted to part with that. Luckily, I also had a quart of cream (from the same cow, Nutmeg) left in the fridge. Conveniently, Heidi's recipe calls from cream instead of butter, so that's what I planned to use.

There was one little kink in that plan. Heidi's recipe also calls for cooking the cream and honey (which she uses in place of sugar) to temperature together. That wouldn't do for me. I'm always complaining that caramels in America are cloying sweet and lack that bitter edge you get from burnt sugar caramels in France. So I would adjust the recipe a little. I'd cook the sugar first, get it burnt enough, then I'd add the cream and make my lovely caramel candies.

How to make homemade Dulce de Leche or Confiture de Lait

I found myself with a lot of milk leftover this last week. We usually use up our weekly supply of raw milk from our cow share (from the lovely Nutmeg the Normande cow), but somehow we ended the week with nearly half a gallon of milk in the fridge still. Not wanting to throw it out to make room for the new supply – what a waste of a beautiful product it would have been – I decided to do something about it.

I've been wanting to try my hands at Dulce de Leche – the gloriously sweet, gooey, creamy caramelized milk from Latin America - so this seemed a fortuitous moment. Unfortunately, most Dulce de Leche recipes I googled gave instructions for making "homemade" Dulce de Leche from store-bought canned Condensed Milk. How that became "homemade" I'm not entirely sure. Even my dear friend David L. had his own Sandra Lee moment.

I needed to find one that uses whole milk so I turned to a different source. There is a similar product in French cooking called Confiture de Lait, or simply milk jam in English. There are plenty of Confiture de Lait recipes, calling for different proportion of milk and sugar, some call for using vanilla, or even the addition of rum.

A little confused, I had to figure one out for myself. Many recipes I saw add a whopping 500 grams of sugar to merely a litre of milk – that's only a quarter of a gallon or just four pints. That's just crazy. I didn't want to end up with caramelized sugar with a hint of milk. I wanted to preserve the creamy deliciousness of Nutmeg's milk, so I used only half that amount. I know I'd have to cook it longer to compensate for the missing sugar and to reduce the milk to the proper texture. I also knew I'd add a little salt, not to make it salty but just enough to round out the sweetness.

My experiment turned out beautifully, as you could see in the picture above. I wish you could taste it as well. Oh, wait, you could, you just have to follow to recipe and make it yourself!

Pumpkin and Coconut Milk "Panna Cotta", or on being accidentally vegan and gluten free!

Sometimes a kitchen mishap can turn into a beautiful inspiration, like the other day when I overcooked a Thai dessert. I was making one of my favorite desserts from childhood, a sweet soup with chunks of pumpkins swimming in creamy coconut milk sweetened with palm sugar. The trick of it is to cook the pumpkin pieces just so that they are softened and cooked through, but still remain in tact – true to the Thai name of this dessert, "ordained pumpkin". The orange pumpkin chunks are shrouded in white, hence the name, you see? The overcooked soup - with broken bits of pumpkin tainting the white coconut milk a pretty shade of orange – was still good, but it could no longer be called ordained.

The color of the overdone soup was so pretty however, and the flavor no less delicious, that I thought I could play with this and turn it into something. So I pulled out the stick blender and puree the ingredients into a smooth cream, added a little bit of gelatin, et voila, a brand new dessert. It's a sort of Asian take on the Italian classic Panna Cotta. It retains the traits of Panna Cotta, cooked cream thickened ever so slightly with gelatin, cooled, then unmolded into a quivering mass, a spoonful of which melts into nothingness as it touches the tongue.

This pumpkin-coconut "panna cotta" has nearly the same silky texture, unmolds into just as trembling, quivering mound, but with an added bonus of being dairy free (for your lactose intolerant guests) and could even be vegan if using Agar Agar powder to thicken instead of gelatin. If you didn't want to bother with unmolding it to serve, just pour the warm mixture into old jam jars or small glasses instead of panna cotta molds. When it's cooled enough to set and serve, stick a spoon in it and call it a Pumpkin Pot de Crème.

With Thanksgiving festivities coming up, this dessert could be a delicious alternative for your finicky and dietarily restricted guests.

Poured into a pre-baked gluten free pie crust, cooled in the fridge until set, it will make a gluten free and dairy free pumpkin pie that even the most die hard butter and cream lovers can adore.

Use a vegan pie crust instead, and Agar Agar to thicken in place of gelatin, you've got yourself the smoothest and creamiest vegan pumpkin pie you'll ever have.

I love it when a mistake turns into such pretty, delicious, versatile - if accidental - invention.

Pruneaux à l'Armagnac: Prunes in Armagnac

(If you are reading this post on a RSS reader, you might want to click through to Chez Pim for the slideshow.

In Gascony, you're not invited in for coffee. You are invited for pruneaux. Not just simple prunes, mind you. The prunes they serve in Gascony after dinner - or as a side to a dishy conversation - are pruneaux à l'Armagnac, prunes soaked in Armagnac. Sweet, potent, delicious, and certainly not the stuff your grandma takes to stay regular. Unless your grandma is Tony Bourdain in drag.

I've been pining over the prunes soaked in Armagnac since I came back from Gascony. One lucky day, I came upon a bag of prunes in my cupboard, Pruneaux d'Agen demi-sec that I bought on a visit to Kate's Camont earlier this year. I had nearly forgotten about it. Now I can have my own pruneaux at home.

The first obstacle between me and my pruneaux is finding a bottle of Armagnac. It's not as easy as you think. If the Armagnac is too old or refined, it would be a crime to muck with it. While crappy Armagnac just isn't worth drinking, prunes or sans prunes.

baking up a storm

My hand hurts when I type right now, so I've been baking instead. Playing with different dough recipes, fillings, fruits, berries - you name it. I've tried it. The best combination so far is this, a free-formed tart, with a smear of frangipane and a fan of nectarine slices. I'd give you a recipe, but unfortunately I've been playing mix and match with many different recipes, so, currently my frangipane recipe yields about 13oz of frangipane - that would be about 3 cup's worth - while this tart needs only a thickish smear as the base for the fruit. Not entirely practical, is it? You'll just have to be content with a picture for now I'm afraid. Hopefully I'll get the formula down soon.

Pretty picture though, no? Delicious too if I might add.

I should tell you also about that unmitigated disaster that was a tomato and roquefort tart this afternoon. The same dough I made this open-faced tart with, with a filling made of a combination of Roquefort cheese, Boursin - yes that Boursin - and whipped cream, then layered on top with the first crop of dry-farmed tomatoes - so fresh I picked them myself from Joe's farm today. Don't ask me why this combination. It sounded such a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, not so much with the end result. The cheese mixture turned out a rather disturbing shade of green - sort of like the stuff that grows in old, dirty sink - and no amount of lovely tomatoes would save it. Sad.

Meanwhile, my hands smell of butter. My house smells of butter. Even little Ella does too. Life is not so bad.

Olallieberry tart

What have I done with the Olallieberries we picked the other day? Well, some went into this oh-la-la tart.

I made a tart shell with the most basic tart recipe ever, a stick of salted butter, a cup of flour, and enough water to form a dough (which for me is just a tablespoon or two.) I think I got the idea from the Zuni Cafe's cookbook.

Instead of putting Olallieberries in the shell by itself, I made a quick custard to pour on top. The same custard the French uses in tartes aux quetsches - a half cup of cream, two eggs, a quarter to half cup of sugar (depending on how sweet the fruit in the filling), and a pinch of salt. Mix it all together and pour into the tart shell over the berries.

Baked the tart at 375F for about 30-40 minutes, until the custard is set and the tart shell done. So very simple.

Here's what the finished tart looks like, the first picture in the slideshow is the tart on top of an antique glass pie plate I just got from my flea market visit.

Plum and apricot refrigerator jam, or jam making for germaphobes

I made my first ever batch of jam this weekend. Ok, it's probably an exaggeration to say a batch of jam, when the entire thing came out to be just about 18oz, just enough to fill one antique Pyrex refrigerator jar - newly acquired from a flea market (in the photo, cute or what?) - and a small Weck jam jar.

I had not thought of making jams before. I'm a germaphobe so home canning and preserving scare me half to death. I'm always afraid that I'd end up killing my friends - or worse yet, myself - with an improperly sterilized jar of jam or tomato sauce. It's true that last summer I ventured to make a whole big batch of tomato confit, but those of you who saw that post should remember how I fretted through the entire process. The good news is I am down to my last jar of said confit, and am so far unaware of anyone having died from it.

I was also forced into making that tomates confites because I could not find anything like it to purchase, so I had to make it myself. Jams, on the other hand, are plentiful to buy. I always keep my pantry stocked with a variety of Christine Ferber's and June Taylor's delicious creations - not to mention a random assortment from my travels.

I was inspired to try this time when my friends Dave and Ally came to visit with a bag full of plums from their tree. The plums were too sour to eat, but they were so amazingly fragrant I just had to find something to do with them. I also had a few sweet, sweet Frog Hollow apricots in the case I bought from the market a few days ago. They were softening quickly, and must be used up before they were too far gone to salvage. Then an inspiration struck - jam! The deep red, fragrant plums and bright orange, sweet apricots would make a very pretty - and might even be delicious - batch of jam, I thought.

Brilliant dessert idea: Chocolate mousse and basil gelee

This cute little dessert came at the end of our nice lunch at Rodero in Pamplona. More on the lunch itself later -I hope- but I want to show you this ingenious idea while I'm still on the road. It's a silky chocolate mousse, topped with cold gélée of basil. It's an unusual combination, I know, but it worked so beautifully.

I'm sure this can be translated easily enough for a home kitchen. It might not be as refined as the version you see here, but the concept is really quite simple. Just make a bitter chocolate mousse, then add to that a purée of basil mixed with a little bit of gelatin for the thicker texture. I'll try it as soon as I get back from this trip.

Cheers <waving> from Denia.

Strawberries in hibiscus and vanilla syrup

(If you are reading this post on a RSS reader, you might want to click through to Chez Pim for the slideshow.)

Here is a veritable three-star dish you can do at home.

We had a small dinner party a few nights ago to celebrate our return from Europe. One of the friends who came was Joe, aka the hunky Joe of Dirty Girl farm. He brought a few pints of gorgeous strawberries which he picked for us just an hour or two earlier. The bright red berries were a new hybrid called Albion. They were unbelievably fragrant and flavorful, and -in a momentary lapse of judgement- I decided to share them with everyone for dessert.

The berries would have been great on their own, but I wanted to do something fun with them anyway. I first thought of whipping up a quick batch of cream –that would be crème chantilly for us snobs. I might even flavor it with the wonderful vanilla beans from the Reunion Islands that Malik gave me a few months ago.

Then I recalled a lovely strawberry dessert that Alain Passard serves at his restaurant l'Arpège in Paris. With his usual brilliance and delicacy, he baths the flavorful strawberries in a nage of hibiscus and vanilla flavored syrup –which at once enhances the true flavor of the strawberry while adding to it a whole new dimension. It's so simple, yet so extraordinary.

The recipe was printed in Alain's only cookbook, the illustrated children's cookbook he collaborated with Antoon Krings, Les Recettes des Drôles de Petites Bêtes -which, by the way, is so cutesy-cute it is indispensable for your French speaking children, be they real or imaginary.

Dessert soup: orange and lychee in ginger syrup

This is my recipe for the cold dessert soup, Loy Gaew, that I made for the garden lunch last week.

The name Loy Gaew literally means floating crystals (or gems), referring to the crushed ice floating in clear syrup. Loy Gaew is a very common way of serving fresh tropical fruits as a dessert course in Thailand. Just about any fruit could be cut up and added to sweet and ever-so-slightly salty syrup with a lot of ice. Prepare the Loy Gaew an hour or two before serve since mixture can use a bit of macerating time in the fridge before service.

Sugar High Friday: Vanilla Crème Fraîche Ice Cream

This is my first time at this party, Sugar High Friday: Cooking up custard. There are so many memes these days, I would have to be really diligent to do them all. Even though diligence is a virtue I have in rather short supply, I had to do this one, and not the least because Elise kindly gave me a jar of homemade Apple Butter when we met. You see where I'm going here: give me things and I will be nice to you. Ha.

Well, not really. I adore custard, and I happen to have a recipe that I worked out all on my ownsome. So why not show off? I'm not just a pair of pretty shoes, you know?

I have a recipe for crème fraîche ice cream. Ice cream, as you probably know, is basically frozen custard, comprising mainly of eggs, cream, and sugar. This particular one came about because I was frustrated by overly sweet vanilla ice cream that I saw everywhere. I love crème fraîche, and thought that replacing some of the cream with tangy crème fraîche would help make things a little less sweet. I began experimenting with different recipes, and ended up with this one that I thought worked the best. It's my basic vanilla ice cream recipe now. I love it, try it and let me know what you think.

And you know what, if you didn't have an ice cream maker, you could make this custard and serve it in a pitcher to accompany your crumbles, tarts, or pies. That's plate licking good too.

WBW13: pink chocolate?

As you are reading this, I am sipping Margarita in Los Cabos in Baja California. I'm on vacation. (Yes, evidently one doesn't need a job to have a vacation.) Anyhow, though I'm away, I couldn't possibly miss my friend Clotilde's turn at hosting Wine Blogging Wednesday. Although I must admit, Clotilde, dahling, that I am going to have to cheat a little.

I didn't have time to bake my own cake, you see? (Yes, apparently I find not having a job to be incredibly time consuming.) Instead, I chose a chocolate dessert at my local hangout Incanto. And you know what, it's not even a cake at all, though it certainly was intensely gooey and chocolate-y. It will just have to do.

Gratin de Framboises: or why you should shop at the ferry plaza tomorrow, part I

Last Saturday at the Ferry Plaza market Michelle of Ella Bella farm had some superlative raspberries, in the shades of bright red and blushing pink, or golden as the name claimed. I've been eating lots of raspberries this season, and they were all very good. But these, they stopped me right in my track after stealing a mouthful from the case David picked up for the restaurant. They were unbelievably fragrant and just delicious, like little flavor bombs going off in my mouth, one after another. David, the sweet David, said I could have a box from that case, but one box was certainly not enough for greedy little me, so I ran back to her stall next to Frog Hollow, knocking aside a nice old French gentleman and his wife as I made my way back to those sublimely berry goodness before others -surely less worthy than I- got to them all. Well, I did apologize. And I bought about an armload.

After I was done eating a bunch of them -a bunch of boxes, that is- outright, I started looking around for some fun things to do with them. I remembered an old cookbook I came upon a few weeks ago, with a beautiful and simple recipe for Gratin de Framboises, raspberry gratin. I thought I'd look it up and make one.

Therein lies a problem. You see, I have lots of cookbook. A lot. But David's collection put mine -or whosever for that matter- to shame. Stacks and stacks of amazing books, many of which rare and out of print from long dead French and Catalan dudes. Which one was it that I was thinking of?

Tomato tart à la Régalade

The heirloom tomatoes at Ella Bella farm stand at the farmer's market last Saturday were so unbelievably gorgeous that I decided to make a tomato tart for a picnic last Saturday in Golden Gate Park. The recipe came from 125 recettes de La Régalade by Yves Camdeborde.

I have wanted to make this tart since I got the book. How could you resist a tart dough comprising of equal amount parmigiano cheese, butter, and flour? I mean, that's such an irresistible indulgence.

I made two versions in one day, as I wanted to test this brand new recipe. I used pastry flour for the first version, and pretty much followed the recipe exactly. The resulting product was not ideal. The tart dough was a little loose, probably due to not enough gluten from the pastry flour. It was also ever so slightly soggy, probably because I didn't let the tomato rest long enough.

For the second one, I used regular all purpose flour, blind-baked the tart (about 10 minutes), and roasted the tomato slices for 10 minutes at 300F. Then the tart was reassembled, and in it went to the oven for another 10 minutes. It was a little bit of a challenge getting the soft roasted tomato slices to go neatly on top of the tart, but I managed. The resulting tart was better than the first one, the dough wasn't as loose, and the bottom of the tart was only a teeny bit wet—but that could have largely been due to the change in the type of flour.. I'm not sure if the difference was worth the pain however. So I ended up with a recipe that was pretty much the same as the one I started out with.

Tarte sablée parmesan, tomate confite, huile d'olive
From 125 recettes de La Régalade by Yves Camdeborde

SF Food Bloggers 1.0

My life is taking over my blogging life again. Work is more than hectic, and so is my social life. Next week I will have two consecutive house guests, one from New York and the other from London!

But I really had to take time from my crazy schedule to write about the fun event last night. (I will also take a bit more time soon to write a response to the sizzling discussion in the comment section of my blog on Trio.) Anyhow, first about last night, a bunch of us San Francisco food bloggers got together at Heidi's lovely place in the Height. The idea got started in my correspondence with Amy (of Cooking with Amy), who kindly took the initiative to make it happen. Left to my own devices, it would have been 2006 before I managed to organize one!.

It was a great deal of fun to make new friends and have faces to match the blogs now. As Derrick (Obsession with Food) put it, it definitely gives a new perspective when reading a blog. The only person I knew before through some work connection was Alder of Vinography. It was really interesting how much everyone was so much like their blog. I suppose that we spend so much time writing and tending to the blogs that our personalities just couldn't help but come through in spades. How very interesting?

Pim's strawberry shortcake

I haven't posted anything I made myself in so long I wonder if anyone still thinks I could cook! Anyway, I made strawberry shortcake the other day for Chiraz's lovely party. The recipe hasn't been posted yet, so here it is.

This is actually my scone recipe, which, like my Madeleine recipe, is result of lots of trials and errors. I started with a number of different recipes from many sources, but couldn't find one that I like, so I finally settled on one of my own.

I weigh my ingredients instead of measuring. I made that conversion a long time ago. And let me tell you, if you haven't yet, do it. You will love me for it. Well, then again you may love me already, :-) in which case you would love me even more.

My blog is (almost) burning! Madeleine au Citron

I didn't want to let another IMBB go without participating, so here's my little contribution.

I went through a Madeleine Madness period last year, during which I baked batch after batch of Madeleine and came up with my own recipe. Recently someone tried the recipe and sent me a rave review of it. He also would like to know if I had a recipe for a lemon-scented Madeleine. I am posting that recipe here in honor of Cake Walk. This is a variation of my original recipe, minus the tea, instead using lemon zest for a delightfully lemony perfume.

Madeleine au Citron, à ma façon
Ingredients:
200 g. Pastry flour
5 eggs
120 g. granulated sugar
160 g beurre noisette
10 g. soft butter, for greasing the mold
80 g. liquid honey. If your honey has crystallized, just warm it in the microwave for 20 sec.
Zest from 1 large or two small lemon

Follow the instruction from the original recipe, but skip the tea infusion. Also, add lemon zest to the egg mixture toward the end of the beating.

Voilà, lemon Madeleine. Enjoy.

Madeleines madness

I have been working on creating my ultimate madeleine recipe for a while.  I've researched as many recipes as I could get my hands on, and in as many languages as I could comprehend.  I also baked batch after batch of madeleines, testing different recipes and variations.  Chris complaint that he was gaining weight, I thought him silly:  How could one gain weights on these tiny delights. :-)

I consider this recipe It!  My perfect madeleine recipe.  The base recipe was borrowed from Mariage Frères, but I've changed the proportions and the technique.  These madeleines are infused with honey and Earl Grey tea.  They are so very good.  Follow the recipe very carefully, these little yummies are quite tricky I tell you. 

Madeleines au thé façon Pim   
Tea Madeleines
(make about 24 madeleines)

Ingredients:
200 g. Pastry flour
4 eggs + 1 yolk
120 g. granulated sugar
160 g beurre noisette
10 g. soft butter, for greasing the mold
20 g. tea (preferably good quality loose leaves Earl Grey, I use Mariage Frères)
80 g. liquid honey.  If your honey has crystallized, just warm it in the microwave for 20 sec.

mise en place
1.  To make 160 g. of beurre noisette, you need to start out with about 240 g. of cold butter.  The butter will lose 20-30% of weight in the process.  Put the butter in a medium glass bowl, cover, and microwave (yes, really) for 2-3 minutes, depending on the power of your microwave.  Watch it carefully, when the butter turn dark golden brown, take it out and add the loose tea leaves.  Let the tea infuse for 3 minutes, strain and weigh the resulting beurre noisette liquid. You will need exactly 160 g.  Add more butter if you are short a few gram.  Let it cool to just above room temperature.

Now you make the batter: 
1.  beat the eggs and sugar together on top of a bain-marie, until the eggs mixture is warm to the touch and looks like yellow syrup.  (or, if you are as obsessed as I am, use your candy thermometer and measure the temp to exactly 135F, take the batter off the heat immediately, continue to beat, then follow the next steps)
2.  add the honey and mix well, beat the egg mixture (preferably using your KitchenAid) until triple in bulk.  When in doubt, beat a bit more.  You can't really over-beat at the moment.
3.  take about a cup of the mixture and put into a separate bowl, mix well with the beurre noisette that has been infused with tea.
4.  add the flour, don't use the machine, you should fold the flour in by hand.  I use a slotted spoon to do the job.  Be careful not to over mix, your madeleines will come out tough.
5.  fold in the beurre noisette mixture, very gently.
6.  cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the batter rest in the fridge for a few hour, or overnight even.

Now you bake:
1. preheat the oven to (just a tad higher than) 350F. or exactly 185C
2. butter and flour your madeleine pan--make sure you completely cover each mold with butter and flour, shake off the excess.  I use a strong shiny tin pan, not the dark non-stick type which will bake your Madeleines too dark. 
3. put the batter in a large pastry bag fitted with a medium-size round tip.  If you don't have a pastry bag, you can just spoon the batter into each mold instead.  It will take longer to fill a pan, but it will work just as well.
4. fill in each mold by squeezing a 1.5-2 inch round ball into each mold, slightly toward the wider end.  If you use a spoon, use about a scant 1tbsp of batter in each mold.  Note: Every single Madeleine recipes I have seen calls for filling the mold 3/4 full.  This of course makes no bloody sense, since the batter is usually very cold and forms a rather stiff ball instead of softly filling the mold 3/4 of the way.  I think my method makes a bit more sense.  What do you think?
5. bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges turn a bit darker than golden brown. 
6. unmold and let cool on a rack. 
7. repeat the process with another batch of madeleine batter, until you are done. 

Troubleshoot:
Here are a few problems I've come across and found a way to fix.
1. Madeleines are too tough.  This is most likely because the batter was over-mixed after the addition of the flour.  This creates more gluten, toughening the madeleines.  It could also be that your batter has not rested properly, so the gluten has not had enough time to soften.  Mix the batter more lightly next time around, and perhaps let it rest a bit longer.
2.  No bump!  This could be due to a few things.  One could be that your batter is not cold enough.  Second, your oven may not be hot enough, check the temperature.  Third, you may need to fill the mold a bit more.  You need enough batter in each mold to fill it and push up as it bakes.

Enjoy!
Let me know how they turn out for you.  Feel free to share my discovery with anyone you'd like--just a little attribution will be appreciated. :-)

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If you find this recipe useful, please consider giving a few dollars to help my charity drive for Doctors without Borders by clicking on the picture below. (This fundraising is over.  Thank you.)

war or madeleines

All this talk of war got me so depressed that I decided to bake some madeleines tonight to relieve stress. I found a new recipe on Mariage Freres, my favorite tea salon in the Marais. The recipe called for 4 grams of "Backing", which, knowing the propensity of the French to infuse English words into their repertoire, I guessed that it was Baking Soda.

Unfortunately, the madeleines turned out too cake-y, and without the characteristic hump that one would expect in a proper madeleine. Next time I'm going to skip the mysterious "Backing" altogether. None of my other recipes call for baking soda anyway, and I've been successful with most of them, getting the lovely bumps.

The recipe I adapted and posted in dans la cuisine was given to me with only proportions, with no instruction at all. Doree suggested that I follow the methods for making classic Genoise, which called for the eggs and sugar to be beaten together in a Bain-Marie. I found that this was the surest way of leavening Madeleines, giving it the lovely bumps every time.

I tried the recipe from Mariage Freres because I remembered tasting those lovely Earl Grey-infused delectable morsels at the salon, but I was quite disappointed with my baking result. The recipe calls for infusing the tea in melted butter, which proved a bit tricky. I'm really not convinced that it was the best way of getting the tea aroma. Next time I'm going to try using my favorite classic recipe, omitting the lemon zest and infusing tea into the milk before adding to the madeleine batter.

I have been so obsessed with getting the perfect Madeleine recipe, and plan to continue doing so for a while longer. I'll keep you posted on my progress, and will eventually post my ultimate madeleine recipe should I ever get there.

The world is getting more and more insane---I don't know how long baking madeleines is going to keep me from following suite. [sic]

Madeleines

Madeleines

makes 3 dozens regular size madeleines

I adapted this recipe from a French recipe of unknown origin, so all the measurements are in grams. Sorry.

ingredients
5 eggs
240 g. sugar
zest from 1 lemon
300 g. flour (The recipe didn't specify a particular kind of flour to use, but I've been successful with regular all-purpose flour)
10 g. butter (for greasing the molds)
150 g. melted butter (You can use clarified butter in place of the simple melted butter, if you are so inclined, and have the time and patience to make it.)
90 g. milk

Beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl placed on top of a pot of boiling water, until the mixture looks like bright yellow syrup and is warm to the touch. Beware not to cook your eggs.
Remove from heat, add the zest and continue to beat (better do this with your KitchenAid) until light and fluffy and almost triple in bulk.

Lightly fold in the flour, then melted butter and milk.

Drop about a tablespoon of the batter into each mold and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes.

Tricks:
I found that you get the really nice characteristic Madeleine bumps if you let your batter rest in the fridge for a few hours before baking.
Also, a slotted spoon or a balloon whisk is my tool of choice for folding the liquid butter and milk into the batter.

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