"Madeleine" (cookies): a step-by-step recipe

French cuisine is considered to be one of the most sophisticated and sophisticated in the whole world. Hardly you can argue with this: often recipes for dishes include a huge number of ingredients and complex processes. Perhaps, only those who have a huge baggage of practice and knowledge in culinary arts will be able to cook on them. But, anyway, today we will dwell on the recipe of the famous French dessert "Madeleine". Cookies from gentle biscuit dough we will cook at home, right in your family kitchen! Do you think it will be difficult? Not at all! This dessert is an excellent example of how simple it is all ingenious. But before we go to the recipe itself, we'll tell you a little about how the Madeline story began. A cookie with a female name is not just a delicious dessert, but a delicacy famous all over the world.

Birth of the Madeleine

Today it is difficult to say who and when invented such a delicious treat. The story of how the Madeleine (cookies) first saw a high light only reached us. Everything began in the distant 1755. According to the custom of those times in France, balls for a high-ranking nobility were often arranged. They were prepared beforehand, buying the best products, and only the best craftsmen reigned in the kitchen.

Quite unexpectedly, on the eve of the ball, it became clear that the chef was seriously ill and would not be able to participate in the preparation of the banquet. Delicious pastry has always occupied an honorable place on the noble tables, but this time, the guests seem to have been left without dessert. Quite unexpectedly, an ordinary maid came to the rescue. She quickly prepared a simple dough made of flour, eggs and sugar, and soon on the dish appeared small fragrant cookies in the form of sea scallops. It's better than nothing. After all, could not the servant challenge the famous chef of a nobleman?

The surprisingly delicate cookies made a sensation among the guests. It was so delicious that everyone wanted to know its recipe and name. As it was called, the maid did not know. The only thing the girl said was that her grandmother often cooked such a dessert and was very fond of him in the family. Soon the recipe flew across all the noble houses of Paris, and even later dessert appeared on the table of the king of France himself. Its beautiful name it received in honor of the name of the servant who cooked cookies - Madeleine. French food has become famous all over the world, and even today the Madeleine is as popular as ever. Surely you saw them in a pastry shop, and maybe you were treated to them at a party?

Sea shell

"Madeleine" is a biscuit that is baked in the form of sea shells. A gentle structure and sophisticated form give them a refined sophistication, which should be the majority of French desserts. For preparation, a specially made form is used, it is lightly oiled before baking. A little dough is laid out on it, everything goes to the oven. In the process of baking, a small bump is formed on the back side of the cookie, it is by no means a flaw, but, on the contrary, a distinguishing feature of these little ladies.

Today, forms for such baking are produced from different materials. Often this is a familiar metal or more modern silicone products. Dimensions can also be different, from the smallest ones to large enough, the only thing that remains unchanged is the shell.

If in your city to buy this form for baking is not easy, do not deny yourself the pleasure. You can beat the situation and bake the biscuits on parchment paper, oiled, spreading the dough with a spoon. Forms of seashells will be difficult to achieve, but it will not be less delicious.

The famous recipe

To make home cookies Madeleine, you will need the simplest ingredients. Surely they can easily be found in every home. The recipe for Madeleine's grandmother included:

• 3 eggs;
• 130 g of butter (cream);
• 150 g of flour;
• 110 g of sugar (better than powdered sugar);
• ½ tsp. Soda or baking powder;
• A peel of one lemon;
• A little vanilla.

Cooking dough

Ready dough should stay a little before shipment to the oven, so try to cook it beforehand. It is very convenient to make a dough the night before, and in the morning bake malenky - an excellent delicious breakfast will be ready in just a few minutes. Fresh and delicious pastry with a cup of fragrant tea is a great start to the day.

Let's start preparing the ingredients: pre-melt the butter. Eggs with sugar rub off white and add a little vanilla. Ideally, sugar crystals should dissolve completely, and to save time, it is better to use powdered sugar.

Add butter, ground lemon zest and sifted flour with a baking powder. Mix the dough well - it should not be too thick. Then, refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Baking malenky

Preheat the oven and 220 degrees. Before baking the mold, apply a little butter, then put some dough into them. It should occupy 2/3 of the total volume of seashells. Do not overdo it, the biscuits will increase slightly during baking.

Set molds with dressing gowns into a hot oven for 4 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for another 4 minutes. Once the cookie is browned, it's ready. Carefully remove the treat from the molds while it is still warm, then allow to cool.

Beauty in Detail

Now you know how to cook Madeleine cookies. The recipe we brought classic, such a cookie was served to the table, sprinkled with powdered sugar, less often - covered with glaze. You can go much further, you just have to connect your imagination.

"Madeleine" can be prepared in many colors or iridescent, just make up a little dough. Use suitable food colors or simply add a couple of spoons of cocoa to the dough portion. You can cook pechenyushki with a stuffing: make a teaspoon small notches in the center, put some jam and put the two cookies together. You can decorate the cockleshells with a jacket: melt some chocolate and dip the tips of pechenyushki into it, let the chocolate freeze.

Beautiful and delicious cookies, which in due time served the king of France, will certainly enjoy you and your family, and it is prepared quite simply. Enjoy your meal.