MADELEiNES

 

I am not going to talk about Proust, even if I'm french and clichés are the easy way out of writing an inspired post about food. I am not goint to talk about my childhood neither because it would be a cover up for talking about Proust. 

So then, what the heck am I going to talk about? What I am going to say appart that this recipe is easy, fast and delectable? Talk about the weather? Nah! Talk about life and death? Nah. Much too serious for a post about light and fluffy Madeleines. 

How about I stop writing right now and let you test this recipe and see for yourself? Sounds like a gread idea.

iNGREDiENTS:
-makes about 20-

• 100 gr all purpose flour
• 100 gr butter
• 110 gr organic sugar
• 2 eggs
• zest of half a lemon
• 3gr baking powder
• a few drops of orange blossom water

RECiPE:

• Preheat oven at 220°C (430°F)
• Stir flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
• Melt butter and leave to cool a bit.
• Beat eggs with sugar until fluffy into another bowl.
• Add melted butter + flour and baking powder mix + lemon zest + blossom water to the egg and sugar mixture whitout stopping beating.
• If your Madeleine pan is not nonstick, butter it. If it's silicone it's not necessary. Divide the batter among molds, filling them almost to the top.
• Bake for 5 minutes.
• Turn down oven temperature to 200°C (390°F) and bake for 10 more minutes.
• Remove from oven and leave to cool before taking madeleines from mold.
• Enjoy at room temperature with a glass of milk or a cup of tea for breakfast or teatime!
• ET VOiLÀ !

MACARONS the old fashion way

The old fashion way is always the best. This recipe is so simple, tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Trust me, once you try it you will never stop making it. Plus, the only fat comes from the nuts and it's gluten free. This recipe has become one of my trade mark recipes. Go for it!

iNGREDiENTS :

• 200 gr icing sugar
• 150 gr ground almonds
• 100 gr ground azelnuts
• 3 egg whites
• zest of one orange
• a few drops of almond extract

RECiPE :

• Preheat your oven at 175°C (350°F)
• Stir all your ingredients together: ground almonds & azelnuts + icing sugar + egg whites + orange zest + almond extract.
• On a prepared parchment paper, form little balls, using two spoons; a piping bag, fitted with a 12mm nozzle or a homemade piping bag (cf video recipe).
• Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until the macarons are lithely brown on the edges. The center should stay quite tender and the edges a bit crunchy.
• ET VOiLA ! (easy, eh? ;) )

CARAMELS & CHOCOLATE CHiP COOKiES

I like cookies but it's nothing compared to my best friend's addiction to them. If she could feed herself with cookie dough at every single meal I think she would. So of course she's been looking for her perfect recipe for some time now and when she finally found it, she agreed for me to share it with you. I hope you're honored! ;) She discovered that the key to make super soft and unforgettable cookies is to cook them longer but at a lower temperature.

The first time I tried this recipe, I was living in Buenos Aires with her and my cousin for a few months. It's interesting to see how basic ingredients can be really different from one county to another. We made the cookie dough and realized once the cookies were already on the baking sheet that the sugar we bought was not as sweet as the one we used in France. So we decided to add some more. We put the dough back in the bowl, add more sugar, stir and tasted it. This time the dough was sweet enough but a very artificial and chemical flavor had appeared. What was it? Suddenly it strikes me. Once we where done with the dough the first time, I was about to clean the bowl so I added cleaning product into it and then totally forgot about it while we where putting the dough back in the bowl. Oh my god, trust me, cleaning product is NOT a magical ingredient. It tasted awful and we had to start all over again... but it was worth it!

iNGREDiENTS:
- make 15 big cookies -

• 100 gr of butter
• 200 gr cane sugar
• vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 220 gr all purpose Flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• a pinch of baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 150 to 200 gr chocolate chips
• 8 caramels

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 140°C (280°F)
• In a bowl (a mixer is great but by hand is fine) stir: butter + both sugar (cane and vanilla extract).
• Add egg. Stir
• Add flour + salt + baking powder + baking soda. Stir.
• Finally add the chocolate chips and caramels cut in pieces. (You can use only chocolate chips or only caramels. Whatever you fee like)
• WARNING !!! This recipe is not over. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT eat the all cookie dough right now!
• Devide your dough in little bowls and spread them onto a prepare baking sheet. Leave some space between each cookie because it's going to spread while cooking. Press a little bit with your hand on each piece.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The sides should get a bit brown and the center should stay very soft. So don't be afraid if they look undercooked after 20 minutes in the oven. They will get harder once they cool.
• Leave to cool and try not to eat them all at once.
• ET VOiLÀ!