Madeleine Musings {CtBF}
Madeleines. Little French cakes, that I’ve made just twice before, using Dorie Greenspan’s recipes. The perfect accompaniment to tea. The first time I made madeleines, they were honey-spiced. The second time they were brown butter-vanilla.
The recipe challenge for Cook the Book Fridays this week is sort of combination of these predecessors. David Lebovitz’s Buckwheat Madeleines has the distinct flavors of brown butter (love the nuttiness) and dark honey (I used buckwheat). These ingredients are layered on a buckwheat batter, adding to the earthiness. Finally, cocoa nibs provide a little crunch and a hint of chocolate flavor. What a lovely package!
I liked that David’s recipe used all egg whites. I looked at other madeleine recipes, and they all called for whole eggs. I’m always looking for delicious ways to use up egg whites. I suspect that I could use egg whites in place of whole eggs in other madeleine recipes. That’s a trick I’ll remember.
This recipe made A LOT of madeleines. I have a regular pan and a mini-madeleine pan. I unintentionally overfilled the molds, but there was lots of batter left over after filling both pans. Certainly, I could have made half the batter and had plenty of madeleines.
My madeleines didn’t have the ideal shape because I overfilled them, but they still tasted good.
I brought them to a garden club activity to share with the ladies. They were a hit.
You should try these. They are so simple to fix up. You can find the recipe here. It’s also on page 270 of David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen. See what my blogging friends thought by following their links.
Posted on 4 May 2018, in Baking, Cook The Book Fridays, my paris kitchen and tagged baking, Cook The Book Fridays, my paris kitchen. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
A Plateful of Happiness 
I only had one madeleine pan so I just made mini-muffins out of the leftover batter. I loved the flavor so didn’t want to waste the batter. Somehow I missed Dorie’s 2 madeleine recipes but will go back and try them. I’d forgotten how much I liked the taste of buckwheat. I bet your ladies considered these a real treat. My guys at the front desk seem honored to be asked to taste-test warm madeleines. I have never seen a mini-madeleine pan before.
You are making a good point of the uncommon use of egg whites and how well they work in this recipe. The batter is quite stiff, don’t need the entire egg, I guess. From my experience, this recipe seems to work better with the bigger pan than the mini one.
Your description sounds yummy. I haven’t made these yet, and while I might possibly find my pan in storage, I’ll probably use a mini muffin pan like Mary did for her extra treats. They sound delicious, so maybe a Saturday recipe?
These little cakes were really good, and way too easy to eat. I used a plastic container for the leftovers and they still taste fresh. I love that little madeleine pan, makes a one bite cake.
I overfilled a few of my molds, too, but they were still pretty (and tasted fantastic). I only have one madeleine pan, so I put the rest of the batter in a mini-loaf pan and it worked out quite well. I realize now that I have a vintage mini-cake pan of my grandmother’s that would have worked quite well, too. I’ll remember for next time.
It’s never egg whites I’m wondering how to use up, but egg yolks! I think my desserts run to pavlovas over puddings. I may have to correct that this weekend…
Wow yours look so dark in the pre-oven photo! I’ll say this recipe made a lot! I realized later I should’ve just made a half batch with how many madeleines it makes (and boy did I overfill the molds, too). I also love your mini madeleine pan–very cute and the perfect size for snacking!
Loved these too! I wondered also about egg whites in other recipes… Hmm…. Might call for some experimentation!
Looks great! I have seen great review after great review of buckwheat and am excited to try it out. It’s been a busy few weeks so I haven’t had a chance to make these yet but I will definitely be trying this recipe!