Cooking Weekends! - Almond with Lemon Zest Madeleines.

Inspired by the tools at home, finally set myself to make some traditional french pastry, Madeleines! 

Madeleines are very small sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions. Aside from the traditional moulded pan, commonly found in stores specialising in kitchen equipment and even hardware stores, no special tools are required to make madeleines.

A génoise cake batter is used. The flavour is similar to, but somewhat lighter than, sponge cake. Traditional recipes include very finely ground nuts, usually almonds and variation uses lemon zest, for a pronounced lemony taste, which are the ones I'm doing! 

Recipe
(adapted from Art of the Home & TheLittleTeochew)

Yields 24-30 madeleines

- 6 eggs
- 150 grams (about 10.5 Tbsp) of softened unsalted butter+extra to butter your madeleine moulds
- 170g caster sugar
- 170g flour, sifted
- 100 grams finely ground almonds (I used 120g)
- 1 tsp lemon zest (or more, if you like)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Confectioners sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Combine flour, baking powder and ground almonds in a bowl. Whisk to mix well and set aside.

2. In another bowl, beat soft butter and sugar until creamy.

3. Add in eggs one at a time at high speed. You want to get a pale yellow mixture. Add lemon zest.

4. Add flour-baking powder-ground almond mixture in 2 to 3 additions, folding gently with a spatula. It is important not to overmix. As long as the ingredients are combined, stop.

5. Using a spoon, carefully scoop batter onto greased madeleine moulds. Allow the madeleine batter to rest in the fridge (use a cling wrap for cover), as this will relax the gluten and give a light texture. Also, it helps in giving your madeleines those knobbly humps.

* Note: I was short of time, so I chilled the batter for only 20mins (and uncovered, at that!) but thankfully, the humps managed to appear, as you can see.

6. Pre-heat oven to 200°C (390°F) and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until golden yellow on the top and golden brown on the bottom. Start monitoring at the 10-minute mark, it can go fast and overcooked madeleines turn out dry instead of light and airy.

7. Gently loosen the madeleines using a small silicone spatula or a knife. This should be easy if you have greased the moulds. Place on cooling rack (hump facing up otherwise you’ll marks on your madeleines) or plate.

8. Dust with confectioner's sugar if desired. I skipped that and went straight to photography. :D