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Madeleines de Commercy


Another rainy afternoon here. It is unbelievably hot throughout the day with bright blue skies above and when 4 o’clock rolls around so do the thunder, lightning and rain. The wind picks up, the clouds break in and it pours. Just enough time to bake and take a picture.
I felt like baking one of my comfort childhood snacks. My mom used to by them packaged from the store but once you have tasted homemade madeleines there is no going back.

A couple of years ago, my mom gave me this book at Christmas and I have made only a couple of the madeleines recipes in it. I have vowed to bake my way through the book, a couple of madeleines a week. The book is organized by season and month so as to make the best use of seasonal produce but nowadays items seem to be available year round (at least here in the US), which leaves you with complete baking freedom.

History behind these madeleines: in 1755, the pastry chef of Stanislas Leszczynski quit his job in the middle of the dinner service, taking with him all his cakes and pastries as well as the recipes. A young maid voluntered to bake the little cakes her grandmother used to make. This young maid named Madeleine, from Commercy, apparently saved the day!

Madeleines de Commercy, adapted from "Les Madeleines salees et sucrees de Sophie" by Sophie Dudemaine.

For 16 madeleines
2 eggs
130 gr. (4 0z) all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
130 gr. (4 oz) sugar
130 gr. (4 oz) butter

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Melt the butter either in the microwave or in a saucepan on low heat. Let it cool a bit.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the eggs and the sugar until pale yellow. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix on medium high speed until everything is well incorporated, add the melted butter.
Pour one Tb. of the batter into the center of madeleine molds (I use silicone ones). Bake in the center of your oven for 4 minutes at 500, then lower the temperature to 400 and bake another 4 minutes.
Unmold as soon as they come out of the oven.

These are great with everything: jam, nutella, ganache, tea, coffe, milk….heaven!

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Comments


Anonymous August 13, 2006 um 10:52 am

Hey Helene these look fabulous! Madeleines are one of my favourites however I seem to be bad at making them. The last time I made madeleines, which was a while ago.. and they turned out very dry. How do you get spongy moist madeleines?


Helene August 13, 2006 um 5:42 pm

The trick Jen is to really cook them for only 8 minutes, and add the ingredients rather quickly w/out mixing too much.


Anonymous June 26, 2007 um 4:09 am

Hi Helene,

My name is Julianti. I found your blog accidentally. What a wonderful blog. I have tried your Madeleine and it tastes good. But, I can not get the "lovely little bump". Could you please give me some advice how to get the little bump? Thank you very much. Warm regards from Jakarta-Indonesia!


joanne at frutto della passione February 7, 2010 um 4:09 pm

Helen, I haven't commented in ages and now I am commenting on a post that is 3 years old!! I JUST made these, my son loves them, my husband is dunking them in his coffee and I am eating them slowly to enjoy them. The recipe was super easy to follow and they turned out great, I made two sizes, really small ones (about 4 cm long) and slightly larger ones (7 cm long). Thanks!


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