Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp grated lemon rind, or
2 tsp grated orange rind
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
8 tbsp butter, melted cooled slightly, p
4 tbsp butter, softened
Directions
PREHEAT OVEN TO 400F. Smear 1/2 teaspoon softened butter over the
inside of each madeleine form. Be sure to completely cover with
butter--don't leave spots. Combine the eggs, sugar and lemon or
orange rind in a large mixing bowl, and stir them together. Set in a
pan of simmering water and stir until the egg mixture is very warm to
your finger. Remove from the heat and beat with a mixer at high speed
until fluffy, pale yellow, and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes.
Add the vanilla and salt. Dump the flour and cocoa into a sifter or
strainer. Sift once, return to sifter or strainer and sprinkle half
of it over the egg mixture, and fold it in. Pour in 8 tablespoons of
butter and sprinkle on the remaining flour, and fold gently just
until the batter is mixed. Spoon a generous tablespoon of batter into
each prepared mold; do not spread it evenly; it will level itself in
the oven. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the edges of the cakes are
golden and they lift easily from the molds. (If you have only 1 pan,
and can bake only 12 at a time, let the mold cool, wipe it out,
grease with butter, then refill with batter and bake again.) Remove
from the oven, slipping the tines of a table fork under each cookie
to free it, and transfer the madeleines to a rack to cool. Serve
within a few hours, or wrap airtight and freeze. Serve plain, or
sprinkle the ribbed side with confectioners' sugar.
Servings: 24 servings
Chocolate Madeleines Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Chocolate; Dessert
The History of Recipes
Written recipes as an idea can be traced far back into antiquity, in fact as far into history as the Egypt of the Pharoahs, and quite possibly further than that. Interesting though that maybe, sadly, these ancient recipes were just very basic pictorial instructions for meal preparation.
In an interesting twist, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to Professor Solomon Katz, is a series of tablets in Sumerian describing the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who drank it feel wonderful. Later on, in The time of the romans 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote some scripts showing how to cook the recipes cooked by wealthy Romans. In his works, Apicius recounts how the roman meals were separated into hors d`oeuvres, main course and desserts, a very modern way of dining. Additionally, he tells us how the ancient chefs made use of a good variety of aromatic flavors, including some that we all recognise for example basil, fennel and asafoetida. Later on, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back a variety of foods and spices from Arab cooking, including basil and rosemary. These new spices and herbs created an increase in recipe books, most of which are now in private cookery archives. When we get to the 20th century, cook books are greatly in demand as a result of more people being able to read, more leisure time and being a little richer. The TV revolution gave us TV chefs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. Which pretty much brings us up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting us all to search through massive numbers of recipes such as those found on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Chocolate Madeleines recipe.
