Lavender Madeleines

My younger sister returned from Tasmania Australia last week. She brought some lavender from Bridestowe for us. When I was in Tasmania some 10 years ago, I didn't know about lavenders, nor was it so popular else where in Australia too! Now, it's so popular and common and even used for baking! Well, I actually got some from PH some weeks ago, so I decided to use them first before using those from Tasmania.

The smell of lavender was really powering. It was exactly like those smell from bath foam, or potpourri. I didn't have doubt about its smell and its taste until I saw the post from HHB about eating lavenders. I quote "Since this is the first time I have tasted lavender, I have yet to acquire the taste for it. I don't dislike it, neither have I fallen in love with it." I think I had to agree with her about this though. The smell of the madeleines from the oven was really nice, but eating and biting into the lavender, does have some bitter taste. Not sure if I had put a little too much? Otherwise, I really like the smell...though not yet the taste! Fortunately, the buttery taste of the madeleines made up for it.



Can't help but to showcase my Homemade Vanilla Ice-Cream again. :p



Recipe for Lavender Madeleines extracted from Tartelette.
Makes approx. 30pcs based on the mould from Daiso.

Ingredients
71g Unsalted butter
1 Tbsp Edible lavender
94g Plain flour
½tsp Baking powder
Pinch of salt
60g Granulated sugar
Grated zest of half a lemon
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp Honey
2 Tsp Vanilla extract

Method:
1. Melt the butter with the lavender and let sit for 10 minutes to infuse. Strain but keep half of the lavender in with butter, or discard the whole amount. (I kept the whole lavender thinking not to waste it, but found biting into it a bit bitter. Should have kept half only.)
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.
3. Beat the eggs, sugar and lemon zest until pale and thick, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the honey and vanilla and beat for one minute more.
5. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the eggs batter carefully. Fold in the butter.
6. Preheat the oven to 190C (170C for fan oven).
7. Butter and flour your madeleines molds and divide the batter evenly. Bake for between 10-12 minutes until they are golden brown.

Orange Madeleines

I've always love anything that is of chocolate or orange. Somehow, I will try recipes with these two ingredients if it comes to my knowledge. Since I started baking madeleines last week, I was thinking of baking orange or chocolate madeleines already. I found one recipe on Orange Madeleines, and decided to try it.



Recipe
Ingredients
100g Unsalted butter
115g Caster sugar
3 Eggs
125g Plain flour
1 tsp Baking powder
Zest and juice of a half an orange
1/2 tsp Orange extract
pinch of salt

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush Madeleine moulds with butter and lightly dust with flour.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale.
3. Add the eggs and beat until combined. If mixture curdles, don’t worry.
4. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix until the flour is incorporated.
5. Mix in the orange zest and juice, orange extract and salt.
6. Place a tablespoon of mixture in each mould.
7. Bake for 12-15mins (using Daiso moulds).
8. Remove from moulds by carefully tapping the underside.
9. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack and serve immediately.

Makes at least 25pcs.

Madeleine Madeleine where art thou?

Is that supposed to mean "where are you?" I didn't study Literature in Sec 3 & 4, so I'm not too sure. ;p I'm not one who can write fanciful pretty English, so Literature is really not my cup of tea.

I prompted Yuri that I wanted to try baking Madeleine, when I saw this blog recipe. It looks so pretty and yummy. It's such a simple cake with great taste. However, she reminded me about the amount of butters and eggs in it. Hmm... I wondered which yummy dessert is not sinful huh? Then she recommended me another madeleine recipe. This recipe uses egg whites. Wow! Doesn't that sound wonderful? Plus, I just bought my madeleine mould on that day, so I'd give it a try. It turns out, the madeleine is very good! It's best eaten when warm, yummy yummy!

Here's a preview of some pictures, will post up the rest soon. :)