Inaugural Baking

Our kitchen is finally ready (aside from the backsplash) for baking! What did I make using our new oven and hand mixer? Madeleines. These are shell-shaped cake-like cookies. I bought some madeleine pans a while ago because of my love for all things French and wanted to finally whip them out.

I found two madeleine recipes from Martha Stewart (of course) that I wanted to try out. The first was pretty easy and tasty. I added zest from half a lemon for freshness and to lighten it up from all that butter. Other than that addition, I followed the rest of the recipe, which called for baking at a high temperature at 375°. The outside of the madeleine was a bit too crunchy for my preference, but the inside of the madeleine had the perfect texture. I'll definitely try baking at a lower temperature next time.


As for the second recipe, Orange Cardamom Madeleine, it was one of the few loser recipes that I've ever come across from Martha Stewart. Compared to the first recipe, the second resulted in a thicker (in height) and denser cookies. I suspect that the ratio of flour to liquid wasn't balanced - it had too much flour. In addition, it called for putting the batter into the fridge, which I thought wasn't needed.


All in all, the first recipe is the winner! If I want to make other flavors, like Orange and Cardamom, I'll just add it to the first recipe like I did with the lemon zest.