A madeleine moment

I have to confess have never read Proust (I suspect most people haven’t), but I do have my own rather literal madeleine moment: walking up the stairs at the Bridge Theatre from the below level auditorium into the foyer in the interval of a show, and being hit by a delicious waft of the smell of warm madeleines, which they serve in the interval. For something which is made with such simple ingredients, madeleines have a distinctive smell and taste. Maybe Proust had a point…

I have tried several times, with several recipes, to make madeleines, with varying degrees of success.

This week seemed like a good time to have another go – this week’s National Theatre screening was of the Bridge’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, which I saw with Melinda about this time last year (it is a very good production, worth watching and available on You Tube until Thursday). Also, it felt like time for a bit of nostalgia, to counteract this new and confusing phase of semi-lockdown (we can go to the pub next week, but we can’t take a bus to get there, as public transport should still be avoided – is that right?), which I mostly can’t take advantage of, as most of the people I would like to see are in other bits of the country (see earlier issue on public transport; neither of us drive).


But – to the madeleines. This time I tried a recipe by Mark Hix, from his book ‘On Baking’. Mark used to own a very lovely restaurant and a guest house in Lyme Regis, which we stayed at a couple of times. I say used to because empire – (several restaurants in London as well as the Lyme businesses, went into administration shortly after lockdown started. Sigh.)  This is definitely the best recipe I have tried so far: the final results were buttery, light, and downright delicious.

The final result

To make them, melt rather a lot of butter (these are not diet items) with honey, and simmer until they turn golden brown (I always find instructions like this annoyingly vague, but I seemed to guess right in this case), then set aside to cool. Meanwhile, using an electric whisk, whisk eggs with caster sugar (I finally got some, after months of trying!) and a little brown sugar, for 8-10 minutes. Do not even attempt to do this by hand.


After this, fold in self raising flour and the butter mixture, cover, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

The batter, about to go into the fridge.

Prepare your madeleine tray, by greasing with butter and dusting with flour. I am dissatisfied with my madeleine tray – it is silicone, so the moulds flatten as soon as they rest on anything, pushing the mixture out over the sides. It’s also too shallow for my liking – especially compared to the original Bridge Theatre ones. However – add a teaspoon of batter to each mould, and bake for 15 minutes.

Ready for the oven, in the unsatisfactory tray

Take out of tray and leave to cool. Eat, and feel suitably nostalgic.

  

Just out of the oven