Sunday Baking: Almond-Cinnamon Madeleines

En français ici.
I spent my weekend at the Salon du Livre here in Paris, a huge 5-day fair of publishers, authors, editors, bookstores and everything related to books. As a result, cooking was down to a minimum, just the essentials for a picnic like these sandwiches, which I made yesterday with ham, sun-dried tomatoes and avocado, and today with ham, goat cheese and avocado. Both were infinitely better (if I do say so myself) and less expensive than the food sold at the fair. But what about a little something to snack on during a pause in book-browsing, you ask? True, meeting authors and buying books and checking out the new (and actually frighteningly seductive) technologies for future reading make one awfully hungry!

Soooo, this morning it was chained-to-the oven until I came up with the perfect baked good for the event. The result:

Almond-Cinnamon Madeleines


- 10 1/2 Tbsp butter (yea, I know, but I actually measured in grams - 150g, nice and round, see?)
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- zest of a small orange
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup almond powder (finely ground almonds)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Melt butter in a small pot on low heat, or in the microwave.
3. While butter is melting, whisk the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until foamy on top.
4. Add orange zest and vanilla extract and whisk to blend them in.
5. Without stirring, add the flour, almond powder, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir the dry ingredients a bit on top first. Then fold them into the wet ingredients, adding the melted butter.
6. Pour into greased (or silicone - if you have a cool sister who gave you silicone molds for Christmas) madeleine tins and bake for 10-15min, until madeleines are golden-brown on top.


They're perfect for a goûter, a picnic (indoor probably at this time of year) or afternoon tea with a good book (they go well with books - I tested!).





Divine light (or at least light from above) inspires my madeleines in my otherwise utterly uninspiring "oven" (basically the size of a toaster oven).