Malted Madeleines

I’ve still never visited the Baked bakery, but I’ve had a lot of fun baking from the owners’ books. Now, there’s a brand new one. Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients highlights Matt and Renato’s ten favorite ingredients with a chapter of recipes for each one, and I received a review copy of the book. Those top ten ingredients are: Peanut Butter, Lemon and Lime, Caramel, Booze, Pumpkin, Malted Milk Powder, Cinnamon, Cheese, Chocolate, and Banana. They chose well. And, they’ve used those ingredients in tarts, cakes, cookies, muffins, milkshakes, pies, bars, buns, and breads. Everything in the book fits the Baked style of classic American treats made from scratch, and in some cases, given a new twist. I was sure the Caramel chapter would be my favorite with Caramel Coconut Cluster Bars and the Easy Candy Bar Tart, but then I got distracted by the Pumpkin chapter with the Pumpkin Almond Cake and Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. Then, there are Banana Mousse Parfaits and Honey Banana Poppy Seed Bread in the last chapter. I may need to throw a dessert party sometime soon. To jump in and start baking, I chose the Malted Madeleines from the Malted Milk Powder chapter. I wasn’t hosting a dessert party that day, and madeleines make a nice, small-sized treat. When cake sounds delicious, but you really just want something the size of a cookie, a madeleine is the way to go. Malted milk powder is also one of my favorite ingredients, but I don’t get enough opportunities to bake with it. The authors point out that the flavor is subtle and you might not notice it right away, but you’d miss the malt flavor if it wasn’t there.

Luckily, I took a moment to read the recipe all the way through the day before I was going to bake these. The batter needs to rest for one hour after it’s mixed, so I knew to plan for that. Flour, malted milk powder, cocoa powder, and baking powder were sifted together and set aside. Then, in a stand mixer, eggs, sugar, and salt were whisked until frothy. The dry ingredients were then sifted onto the frothy egg mixture and folded in. The bowl was covered with a towel and left to sit for one hour. The oven was pre-heated, and the batter was given a quick stir before spooning it into the prepared madeleine pans. I’m never sure what three-quarters full should look like in madeleine cups and mine were probably over that level, but it worked out fine. They baked for about twelve minutes and were left to cool. Some additional cocoa powder and malted milk powder were stirred together and then sifted over the madeleines after removing them from the pans.

I have a feeling that from now on, I’ll be using a lot more malted milk powder. In any recipe that involves cocoa powder, you can add two or three tablespoons of malted milk powder and reduce the cocoa powder by the same amount. You’ll get a slightly softer edge to the cocoa flavor and faint maltiness, and with more malted milk powder sifted on top, your nose will get a hint of what’s to come from the malt aroma. I can’t wait to find out what tips I’ll learn about using all the other favorite ingredients in the book.

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Savory Madeleines

You know how food people are. We could talk about ideas for cooking and baking all day. An exchange on Twitter with Nurit from 1 Family Friendly Food led to an email conversation which ended up being about baking madeleines. Neither of us had ever baked them, and we wished we could have spent an afternoon baking together, but since we live many miles apart, we did a virtual bake-along. I had an idea about trying a savory madeleine, and Nurit wanted to try a sweet variety. See her blog for delicious orange madeleines. My quest for savory madeleines led me to Martha where I found her recipe that could be made into three different flavors. I opted to bake just two of those flavors and ended up with sage madeleines and sun-dried tomato madeleines.

I don't know why I was so worried about baking these. For some reason, I thought there was something tricky about getting the cakey cookies to be shaped properly, or to get them to come out of the pan. I know that for some, the hump on the top of the madeleine is a requirement, but these only formed a small hump which deflated a little as they cooled. I might just blame that on them being made with cornmeal and having chopped herbs or tomatoes in them. Other than there being not much of a hump, the shape came out fine. I buttered the pans well before spooning in the batter even though the pans I used are non-stick, and there was no problem removing them. In fact, they slid right out easier than anything I've ever baked. This really was a simple recipe all around. Flour, cornmeal, baking soda, salt, and a little sugar were whisked together in a medium bowl. Milk, eggs, and slightly browned, melted butter were incorporated. Then, the batter was divided into two parts in separate bowls although the original recipe suggests three parts. To one part, finely chopped sage was added, and to the other, finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes were added. Then, it's suggested that the madeleine cups be filled only three-fourths full. I was a bit heavy handed, and filled mine pretty much completely. Happily, there was no overflowing, and they turned out fine.

My favorite of the two was the sage. As soon as I tasted one, I thought how great these would be with a hearty, winter soup. They would also make nice items for an appetizer spread or cheese course. Now that I know how quick and simple this recipe is, I'm already thinking about different herbs or nuts or vegetables to try mixing into them next time.

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