Petra Gregorová

It’s quite a common knowledge that I’ve always had a soft spot for anything French, and their fabulous cooking is definitely up top among some other things. After spending some time in France, I very much enjoyed helping out in the kitchen to get a better essence of French cooking and take as much out of it, so I could later enjoy it myself or my family and friends. I had a wonderful friend Isabelle who has given a wonderful cookbook by France Loisirs called La Bonne Cuisine D’aujourdhui and this is also the book where I got my recipe for what better companion to go with your morning cup of coffee or tea than a moist and fragrant but very supple madeleine?

So, let’s get to it.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 200g sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• zest from 1/2 of a lemon
• 200g flour
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• 200g butter

Instructions

1. Mix eggs with sugar until nice and frothy, pretty much doubles in volume and turns nice pale yellow
2. Slice your vanilla bean open and scrape out all the seeds out and add into your mixture with zest of half of a lemon.
3. Combine flour with baking powder and then slowly start folding it in until well incorporated.
4. Add melted and cooled butter.
5. Fill in your madeleine pan about 2/3 in and then put into an oven for about 15-18 minutes at about 415F, or until they rise and get golden with slightly browned edges.
   

   

I am sure this little treat will make any start to a new day to be a better one.

Note: I had a madeleine with larger molds but if you have smaller ones, your baking time will reduce probably down to 10 minutes.

Tip: Madeleines’ recipe is very versatile, so you can change it up by adding different flavors, like replacing about 1/8 of flour with ground almonds, or add some coco powder, orange zest. Don’t be afraid and get creative.