Remembrance of Madeleines Past

I hate to brag, but, so you know, I'm an Amazon Prime member.  Uh-huh.  That's right.  Free two-day shipping, unlimited access to a whole bunch of shows I don't have time to watch, and...  Um...  Hm...  Don't I get some kind of special jacket or something?  Guess not.

The truly awesome component of my relationship with the mega online retailer is my Amazon credit card (which I charge my Prime membership to).  How delightful was it when I saw I had like $30 worth of points accumulated?  It was very delightful, if I may say.  I knew just what I was going to get.  Sure, I could have gotten a book but that's a little obvious, don't you think?  So, I got a madeleine pan, and I got it in two days!

Madeleines are those cute little French seashell shaped snack cakes (say that 5 times fast).  According to my husband, who insists upon reading difficult yet grand works of literature, our friend, Proust, waxes poetic on the flooding of memories from the narrator's childhood unleashed upon munching said cake.  I'll take his word for it.  I just think they're cool, so let's get to it!

Madeleines

Ingredients:

All at room temperature (second rule of Cake Club)!!

1 1/2 sticks of butter melted (but cooled to room temperature) and put it in a small ziplock bag.

1 1/2 C cake flour
pinch of salt

Whisk flour and salt in medium mixing bowl and set aside.

In stand mixer, combine:

2 large eggs
2 additional egg yolks
3/4 C sugar
1 ts of vanilla

Beat on med speed until pale yellow and thick (about 5 or 6 minutes).  It's ready when you lift out the beater and a thick ribbon of egg stuff falls from the machine and sits on top of the rest of the mixture in the bowl and holds its shape before melting back in with the rest.

Sprinkle 1 ts of lemon zest over the egg/sugar mix

Take your bag of butter, cut a little hole at one corner and slowly drizzle the butter into the egg mixture as you gently fold/combine with a spatula.

Sift 1/8 of the flour mixture in with egg mixture and fold.  Continue until all flour is combined.

If you over stir, you'll activate the gluten/protein thingies in the flour making what should be a tender cake into a brick.

Use a 1 inch ice cream scooper (or a tablespoon measurer) and spoon batter into a well greased madeleine tin.

Bake at 400° for about 11 minutes.  Let cool in an for about 4 minutes, remove and transfer to cooling rack, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with Proust and tea.