So, there is a special someone that I need to impress with bakery/cookery prowess tomorrow. No, not the boyfriend as I’m not seeing him till majority of my assignments have been handed in as I don’t have the time for a social life right now. Sigh.
At any rate, I got home at 7:30pm, soggy from the rain and more than a little frostbitten from the bone-chilling winds. The day at work was killer, as though I’m now only working 2 days a week, working on the production team for a publishing company means that you are always busy.
Always.
Despite all this, I had a plan in mind. A plan to bake some scrumptious tidbits that were easy and not too time-consuming, which would also fill the house with warm, comforting smells. The only problem was that I couldn’t decide WHICH scrumptious tidbits would be made! Muffins? Cookies? Biscotti? Mini cakes?
Then the ghost of Marcel Proust came flying out of the sky and hit me on the head with a madeline tray. No, really. Hey, it’s my imagination, I can imagine whatever I please! If my sleep-deprived mind wants to tell me that Proust dropped the madeline tray on my head, then I have every right to believe it.
A-ha-ha, yeaaaaaaaaah.
This recipe is based on one by Aussie chef Shannon Bennett, arguably one of Australia’s most skilled chefs in the art of French cuisine.
Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g caster sugar
3 large-ish eggs
1 cup plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
zest & juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp vanilla essence
Extra butter and flour for brushing and dusting madeline tins
1. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl till pale. Add the eggs and beat till combined. Don’t worry if the mixture curdles, it has absolutely no effect on how this recipe turns out.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into the wet mixture, then beat at a low speed till mixture is well combined. Mix in the lemon zest, juice and vanilla. Place mixture in the refrigerator till it is chilled.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, and brush the madeline tins with butter and dust with flour.
4. Remover batter from the fridge and drop teaspoonfuls into each mould - don’t worry about smoothing it out or making sure it covers all the indents, as it bakes it will rise and fill out on it’s own.
5. Place in the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes, till the tops (flat sides facing up) are golden and the edges have slightly browned. Remove from the oven, tap them out of their moulds and place them on a rack to cool.
6. Serve dusted with icing sugar and a good coffee (or tea, in my case!)
Depending on the size of your teaspoon and the size of your moulds, this will make roughly 25 - 30 little madelines. If you prefer yours softer and without the crunchy, caramelized edge then take them out of the oven a little earlier than what I’ve put (probably around the 5 minute mark rather than 10).
Also, this is a really basic batter - if you want to make a variety of flavours, then go for it! You can add instant coffee powder dissolved in hot water, cocoa powder or melted chocolate, honey, concentrated orange juice, or even rosewater (as Nigella did for her ‘Rosewater madelines’ in “How to be a domestic goddess”).
I had no lemons in the house so I added 1/2 cup pulpy orange juice instead, and since that made the batter very watery, I also added 1/2 cup self-raising flour to bring it back to the right consistancy. They turned out fine, but the orange flavour is disappointingly weak. Next time I’ll try it with orange syrup or concentrated orange juice and see how I go.
Meet Mr. Woofy, my 6yo Golden Retriever. He was my birthday present from my family on my 18th birthday, and by far the BEST present I ever received. I still remember the day I got him - he was the runt of the litter and nobody wanted him because he’d been born with an inverted lower lid (which was operated on before I got him, but has resulted in a saggy lower left eyelid ever since, which is a bit prone to infection). I picked up his tiny, fuzzy little butt and he nuzzled my neck with his black, wet little nose and I was in love.
6 years on he is still as big a sook as when he was a baby, spoilt rotten and the kindest, most loving and forgiving soul I have ever come across, as well as always being willing to sample my cooking, no matter how horrendous the outcome! He’s my little fur-kid, my Mr. Woofy 
Yes, my fur-kid is the world’s biggest sook
Sulking induces spasms from his cuteness overwhelmed mommy, usually resulting in treaties and cuddles for him.
This is Mr. Woofy’s first time as part of the Weekend Dog Blogging (WDB), as run by Sweetnicks. Head over to her site to see the round-up for WDB #33
Technorati Tags: wdb, dogs, golden retrievers, photos
I’m going frantic with my assignments, feel completely weighed down and have RUN OUT OF CIGARETTES.
Can you smoke roses?
My roses seem to be making one last heroic effort to colour my garden before they disappear for the cold season, and in this current mood, I must admit that I appreciate their effort.
It’s currently 1am in the morning, “Footloose” has just finished on the telly, and I’m taking a break from the many headaches that adobe indesign is giving me (for one of my assignments for uni, basically involves creating a book from beginning to end…) and wondering if I want a cigarette.
I keep seeing persimmons doing the can-can in front of my eyes, and I suspect that’s happening for a few reasons. I do know that lack of sleep can cause hallucinations, and the subject of my imaginings may have something to do with the fact that mom bought 2kg of persimmons today for $1.50 a kg. Which proves how wonderful markets are, as the supermarket is charing $1.30 per fruit. HAH!
Sleep? Cigarette? And what the hell am I going to do with 2kg of persimmons? I don’t have any recipes for persimmon! (perhaps I should stick to doing something with the 5kg of carrots and apples she purchased?!)
I guess sleep would be more inviting if my big palooka of a dog weren’t snoring and farting on my bed. Pffth.
So, after Lisa posted about her Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caffe Latte Cream, I went into chocolate craving mode. Which, for me, is quite serious, as I’m actually not a chocaholic. I’ll have chocolate maybe 2-3 times a month, and the rest of the time I’m quite happy to snack on honey roasted cashews as my sweetie. Mmmm…cashews…
Anyway, what could I do? I’d used the last of my cooking chocolate (couveture, 73% pure, YUM!) and only had chocolate chips, which meant my options were either cookies or muffins.
Muffins? Could I? Should I? Do I dare?
YES!
So, after the trip to the butcher and greengrocers, I rushed home and pulled out Stephanie Alexander’s “The Cook’s Companion” (often referred to in Australia as the cooking bible - it’s certainly big enough!!). I beat, I mixed, I poured…
and SUCCESS! YES! They are light, fluffy, moist, and other than the fact that I went completely overboard when adding the chocolate chips (cue image of me dancing around the mixing bowl waving bags of choc chips in the air) and added far too many, they are AMAZING!
Ingredients
butter, for greasing the pan
220g self-raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup milk or buttermilk
1 egg
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, and grease muffin tin
2. Mix flour and caster sugar and any other dry ingredients (such as chocolate chips, nuts, spices, dried fruit)
3. In a seperate bowl, combine milk, eggs and oil and whisk together lightly. Add any additional wet ingredients you may wish (such as fresh berries, grated carrot or apple or mashed banana)
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in wet mixture and mix lightly together. Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, till lightly browned on top and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Remove tins, turn out onto a wire rack, cool and consume.
I also added walnuts to mine (as I’m a bit of a nut fiend), which added a nice crunchiness and helped to detract from the sweetness of the overwhelming amount of choc chips!
Yes, I know the muffins don’t have any wrapping, not being a muffin maker I had no lining papers! 
They still taste good though!
*Edit: I don’t recommend this recipe as the very next day these muffins started ‘weeping’ oil and by the morning after that they were oily outside, and dry and tasteless inside. For a better cupcake recipe, look here.
Technorati Tags: muffins, choc chips, baking, cupcakes
