Midweek Treats: Madeleines

As the weather was unbearably hot in Munich on Monday I stayed in and did some baking. Armed with my trusty The Art of French Baking book I set about choosing something from all the lovely recipes. I decided on the French classic Madeleines as I had bought a Madeleine tray earlier in the week- for some reason I'd never been able to find one in the UK- and wanted to try it out. Here's how they turned out:

Because I'm currently living in rented accommodation and cooking equipment is limited, I had to make these without the aid of a pair of scales- nightmare! Luckily they turned out well.

Here's how to make them if you fancy trying them out:

Ingredients:

125g butter, melted
150g caster sugar
150g plain flour, sifted
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170˚c (higher for non fan-assisted ovens) and grease your Madeleine tray
• Whisk the eggs and the caster sugar with an electric whisk until they have tripled in volume
• Fold in the flour, butter and vanilla extract
• When a nice consistency, rest mixture in the refrigerator for around 2 hours
• Spoon the mixture into the moulds, making sure to not fill them quite to the top (they rise a LOT)
• Bake for 6-8 mins (the recipe I was using said slightly longer but I made 3 batches and the ones that were baked for around 6 minutes turned out the spongiest (and nicest!))

*recipe makes 36 small Madeleines*

Let me know how you get on if you decide to make these as well!

{Image: Laura Blanksby, using Instagram; recipe adapted from The Art of French Baking, Phaidon}

Midweek Treats: Raisin Petits Fours

As today was a bit of a wash-out with the weather, I decided to get out my favourite recipe book, The Art of French Baking, and have a go at some petits fours. There were loads of different flavours, from coffee, cherry and orange, but I decided to stick with the classically simple raisin version. This is how they turned out:

Yum! If you like the look of them, here's how to make them:

Ingredients:

 90g  softened butter

120g caster sugar

240g plain flour

125g raisins

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180°c and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper
• Mix the eggs with the sugar and the vanilla extract
• Separately, combine the flour with the baking powder. Then stir into egg mixture
• Add the softened butter
• Stir in the raisins
• Form mixture into mini mounds and place on the baking tray 
• Bake for 15 minutes

*Recipe make 12 petits fours*

I ate mine with a big mug of coffee whilst watching day-time TV; a great way to waste a rainy afternoon if you ask me :-) 

{Image: Laura Blanksby for High Street Home, using Instagram; Recipe adapted from The Art of French Baking, Phaidon}