Madeleines

madelienes are my second favorite cookie (after amaretti), though really they're more like little cakes. they look extra fancy but don't take much more effort than any other cookie, so they're good for impressing people. if you don't have a madeliene pan, you could make little muffin-shaped cakes with a muffin pan.

I've found that with all sweet baked goods, adding enough salt is very important for optimal tastiness. i didn't put quite enough in the dough for these, so i sprinkled it on top after glazing them, which worked fine. you could even use some course sea salt for an interesting textural element. the lemon glaze here is optional, as is the almond extract.



Almond & Lemon Madeleines
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
splash of vanilla extract
splash of almond extract
dash of salt
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

juice of 1 lemon
few tbs confectioner's sugar

Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Beat the eggs with the extracts and salt until light and airy. Add the sugar gradually while beating and keep going (~5 minutes with a beater, 10 by hand) until it's thickened and forms ribbons. Fold in the melted butter and the lemon zest, then pop the dough in the fridge for about an hour (you can freeze it, covered, for ~30 min to speed it up, stirring a few times to keep the edges from freezing). Preheat to 375, then spoon the dough into your pan (don't push it down to fit the molds). Bake about 15 minutes until golden and springy. Unmold and let cool on a wrack.

Optional glaze: melt together the lemon juice and sugar, and then cook until reduced by half. dip the cooled madelienes into the glaze and let dry again on the cooling rack (put something under it to catch the drips). enjoy!