Aren’t they pretty? Madeleines have to be one of, if not the prettiest cookies out there (although, that seems to be a topic of heated debate). So I’ve been bitten by the Madeleine bug. I have to tell you though, I think about 90% of my inclination to make dozens of them is just to use my new pan.
I mentioned in that I had come across a recipe for a lemon madeleine using brown butter. I got around to trying it out the other day and I managed to pull it off without dropping anything on the floor, but of course I still had some issues.
I realize this may be repeating information from my other post, but I think this is important enough to note again just in case you don’t feel like reading another post. If you read the other post, or already know how to make brown butter move along to the next paragraph. The recipe says it takes about twenty minutes on medium heat to brown the butter. Now, I don’t know if they meant that it’s supposed to take that long if you just took it out of, let’s say…the freezer. Still, I have no idea how you could take twenty minutes to do this, but with my stove I would have a serious smoke issue if I had tried to go for the full twenty. For more detailed info as to the issues I had with this procedure please read my post on brown butter. But basically, I don’t think the temperature makes a huge difference as I’ve seen the gamut from different people. I discovered success with a medium low heat. DO NOT WALK AWAY from this thing. Swirl the pan nearly constantly, and if need be even stir it once in awhile. This process only took me about five minutes when I finally got it right the third time. If you already knew how to brown your butter kudos to you, and breath, breath…you’ve got to remember to breath while your laughing.
I plan on doing a separate post about the miraculous properties of Baker’s Joy, but briefly that’s what I used to prepare the pans instead of butter. I just have a better track record with Baker’s Joy.
Despite my Groundhog Day experience with browning the butter, the cookies came out pretty tasty. One thing I’d like some help with, after a couple of hours they turned a bit soggy. I stored them in an air tight container and they seemed to get worse as time went by. Any ideas on what I’m doing wrong? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
