Madeleines

These gorgeous little cakes are called "Madeleines".  They are originated from France.  Their shell-like shape is acquired by baking in a special shell-shaped mould.  Traditional recipes use very fine ground almonds (known as almond meal).  However, I made these using only plain flour (well, you can call them the cheap version of Madeleins as almond meal is pretty expensive!).  Despite the absence of almond meal, they still taste pretty good.  They are a good afternoon treat.  Try it this weekend, sit back & enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee with your family or friends :-)

Ingredients:

40g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
100g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
80g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or you can use vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped)
1 egg
30ml milk (I used soy milk, but if you want the real flavor, use full cream milk instead)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease the Madeleine tray with butter.

2.  Sift the flour & baking powder into a bowl. 

3.  In another bowl, beat the egg, sugar, vanilla bean paste and milk until they are light & fluffy. 

4.  Carefully fold in the sifted flour until they are just combined.

5.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan over high heat. When the butter turns brown, add to the mixture and combine well.  Do NOT overmix.

6.  Spoon the mixture into Madeleine moulds and bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden.

7.  Dust with a little bit of icing sugar (optional) 

* Makes 10 Madeleines