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Directions: These little sponge cakes, immortalized by Marcel Proust in Remembrance of
Things Past, are at their most memorable when eaten as Proust himself liked
them, fresh from the oven, still warm and a little crisp on the outside.
As madeleines tend to dry out quickly, home-baked ones are best. Madeleine
pans were among the first baking pans that Chuck Williams brought to
America in the late 1950s, and they were the most popular items for a year
or two in the Williams Sonoma store. If you use a black nonstick madeleine
pan, decrease the oven temperature by 25F or shorten the baking time by a
few minutes. You can find orange flower water imported from France in
specialty-food shops.
Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 400F.
Generously butter the molds of a 12-place madeleine pan.
Sift together the flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. In
another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the egg, granulated
sugar and orange flower water on medium speed for 30 seconds. Increase the
speed to high and beat until the mixture has quadrupled in volume and is
very thick, about 10 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold in the
flour mixture and then the butter. Spoon the batter into the prepared
molds, filling each one about three-fourths full.
Bake until the madeleines are light brown around the edges and on the
bottom, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately remove the
madeleines from the pan to a wire rack. Using a sifter or fine-mesh sieve,
dust with confectioners sugar. Serve warm.
Contributor: William Sonoma recipes
| Ingredients: 1/2 Cup(s) cake flour 869/10000 Ounce(s) baking powder 1 egg 2 54/625 Ounce(s) sugar 2 Teaspoon(s) orange flower water 1/4 Cup(s) butter; softened 1 powdered sugar; for dusting |