Posts tagged ‘madeleines’

Mar 5

Chocolate Madeleines

I’ve posted this recipe before, it’s so good it’s worth posting again. The recipe comes from Gale Gand. I love her and have been watching her show, buying her cookbooks and following her recipes for years. The only thing I haven’t done is go to her restaurant in Chicago, Tru, it’s on my bucket list and one day I will.

These madelienes are very simple and always turn out great. I saw her once making these on Martha Stewarts show and she was agast that Gale would add baking powder to madeleines. Gale explained that because of the cocoa being heavy you need a little extra lift and it makes sense. Gale also lightly browns the butter and sieves out the solids for this recipe, it makes a difference trust me.

I made these for several reasons, they are simple and delicious, I just got this oh so pretty madeliene pan at Williams Sonoma and I am bringing these little treats with me Fiesta Friday #109. I had so much fun co hosting last week and this week our lovely co hosts are Josette @ thebrookcook and Lily @ little sweet baker.

Pretty shell pattern

Chocolate Madeleines

A recipe by Gale Gand – Makes 2 dozen

1/2 cup, plus 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, for buttering madeleine molds
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 cup cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brush madeleine pans well with 4 tablespoons softened butter; refrigerate 5 minutes.
In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt remaining 1/2 cup butter over medium heat. Continue to cook until butter turns golden brown, being careful not to let the butter burn. Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip eggs with granulated and brown sugars until light and thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, and stir on low speed until combined. Add vanilla and reserved browned butter; mix just until blended.
Insert a 1/2-inch plain tip into a pastry bag and fill with batter. Pipe mounds of batter into prepared pans until each mold is full, mounding batter in the center of the molds but not filling to the edge. Alternatively, you can use a teaspoon to fill the molds with batter (which is what I did). Bake until madeleines are firm and a little mound is puffed up in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes. Madeleines are best eaten the same day they are baked.

Light and elegant

Apr 3

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Tiramisu With a Twist…Frozen and Deconstructed

Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts, this dessert has all the flavors in a different form, how can you resist the creamy, chocolatey, coffee goodness. I took this wonderful dessert and played with it creating a mascarpone gelato flavored with marsala wine, then made chocolate espresso madeleines, a recipe I adapted from the great Gale Gand,I made the recipe as written except that I added the powdered espresso, cut them in half filled with the gelato and served with a chocolate, espresso kahlua sauce. You can make the gelato the day before so it has time to freeze, the madeleines take only a short time to make. I feel its best to put these together when you will be serving. You can bag and freeze the madeleines that you do not use and play with the proportions for the chocolate espresso kahlua sauce making as much as you need.

Gelato:

Makes 1 quart

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs marsala wine

1 cup mascarpone at room temperature

Heat the cream and milk to scalding, beat egg yolks and sugar until they are thick and creamy and a beautiful light yellow color, slowly add half of the hot milk/cream whisking constantly (You are tempering the eggs) pour back into the pan with the rest of the hot milk and whisk together. Cook on medium heat stirring constantly until it reads 175 on the thermometer or until its thick and coats the back of a spoon.

Pour into a container and at this point you can do one of two things, refrigerate covered with plastic wrap that is resting directly on the custard or you can place in an ice bath to cool.

Once it is cooled add the vanilla and marsala, stir to combine. Whisk in the mascarpone until its smooth and there are no lumps.

Pour into ice cream maker following manufacturers instructions. When its the consistency of soft serve ice cream put in a container with a tight fitting lid and freeze until it’s scoopable.

Chocolate Espresso Madeleines:

Makes 2 dozen

1/2 cup, plus 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, for buttering madeleine molds
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 cup cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tsp espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Brush madeleine pans well with 4 tablespoons softened butter; refrigerate 5 minutes.
In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt remaining 1/2 cup butter over medium heat. Continue to cook until butter turns golden brown, being careful not to let the butter burn. Remove from heat and strain through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip eggs with granulated and brown sugars until light and thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, and stir on low speed until combined. Add vanilla and reserved browned butter; mix just until blended.
Insert a 1/2-inch plain tip into a pastry bag and fill with batter. Pipe mounds of batter into prepared pans until each mold is full, mounding batter in the center of the molds but not filling to the edge. Alternatively, you can use a teaspoon to fill the molds with batter. Bake until madeleines are firm and a little mound is puffed up in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes. Madeleines are best eaten the same day they are baked.

Chocolate Kahlua Espresso Sauce:

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbs kahlua liquor

2 tsp espresso powder

5 oz dark chocolate cut into small pieces

Heat cream and sugar until the sugar is melted. Remove from heat and stir in the espresso powder, kahlua and chocolate let sit for a minute or two and stir to combine. Spoon some of the chocolate sauce on a plate, lay the madeleine filled with gelato on top.