[Cookie 060] Lemon Madeleines

For my birthday, my brother was kind enough to give me an ample gift certificate to the chic gourmet foods mecca that is Dean & Deluca. Awesome. Lord knows that in no lifetime of mine, or of yours, or of the entire universe's for that matter, would I ever be able to actual afford to shop there purely out of my own pocket. Let me elaborate: 27 Chocolate-Dipped Mint Sandwich Cookies = $65.00. Uh. Twenty seven total. Uh. Okay, maybe they're dipped in platinum, or infused with unicorn blood, or made by ghosts of dead presidents (????????)--the point is, good thing I made that EXACT COOKIE already, and am going to post about it next week! But be forewarned, I did infuse mine with unicorn blood.

Okay, sorry about the tangent. What I'm getting at is that while I was perusing the store today, meandering through their aisles of Truffle-infused Sea Salt (yes, really) and Sage Jam (drool), I took a quick glimpse at their produce prices. Pale, wan tomatoes were going for $5/lb, and all I could think about were my Mom's amazing tomatoes that we enjoy every summer. And when winter rolls around, her Meyer Lemon tree goes crazy producing copious amounts of this citrus fruit. So when I'm at home, I don't get depressed about not being able to shop for ingredients at Dean & Deluca, because I can just grab some FOR FREE (practically) from her garden, and I don't even need to try Deluca's because I'm sure my mom's produce is better. End of story. Don't even try to argue me on this one.

Plus, how awesome is it to not only make your own fancy cookies like Lemon Madeleines that would probably sell for $18/lb at a high-end gourmet food store, but to make them also from ingredients that you grew yourself?! It's all you in your cookies! It takes the term "made from scratch" to a whole new level, and most likely will give you better tasting cookies in the end anyway! How proud you will be of the treats you make!

Now, not all of you have lemon trees in your back yard, this I know. But I still strongly suggest that you give this recipe a go. It's a quick and fun recipe and you can really up your British aristocratic snob-status by bringing them to a party. The recipe is easy peasy and I nearly drank the batter by the bowlful, but I dare say that's a sure-fire way to absolutely demolish your British aristocratic snob-status, and I simply just can't have that. Pish-posh!

(One minor thing to note: I forgot to stir up the batter after I let it sit for 30 minutes (see recipe) so as you can see in the picture above, the top 2 cookies have smooth batter and the bottom are thicker and chunkier. The chunkier ones turned out better! Stir it up!)

Okay, so what if you don't have a madeleine pan. Well, you're screwed. You really should just go and buy one, because if you try to pour the cookies into any other mold/pan, they might still taste good, but Queen Elizabeth will spit on you (notice the first name similarity--ahem). No, you don't have to buy your pan at Dean & Deluca. Just get one. You could even get a mini-Madeleine pan and be extra cute!

In conclusion, I love Dean & Deluca. Oh, you didn't get that vibe from my writing? Yeah, they're way crazy pricey, but their White Bean & Duck Confit soup kicks ass. Wait, wrong conclusion. In better conclusion, growing food is way more awesome! Even more awesome than that soup! Wait, I've got. The real conclusion is: you should make these babies. Yeah, that's it. Good!

Lemon Madeleines

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted, plus more for pans
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted (not self-rising)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons total)
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two madeleine pans; set aside.
   Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl; set aside.
2. Put eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest and juice in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and thickened, about 5 minutes. Mix in butter. Using a spatula, fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Let rest 30 minutes.
3. Pour batter into buttered pans, filling the molds 3/4 full. Bake cookies, rotating pans halfway through, until edges are crisp and golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cookies cool slightly in pans on wire racks. Invert, and unmold. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to one day.

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{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 2/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 5/5 (Even if you don't have a tree, I doubt you'll have a problem getting any of these ingredients)
Tastiness: 4/5
Attractiveness: 4/5
Is it worth it?: Yep!! Don't forget to dust them with powdered sugar (I forgot).

{Pairings}
Drink: English Breakfast Tea, or any other type of tea

Song: English House -- Fleet Foxes (ooh I love this song so dearly)
Activity: Gardening! Take a gander at my Mom's blog for some handy tips and gorgeous photos!