Sunday, June 03, 2007

madeleine failure

Note to self: do not bake when you have not had much sleep. I woke up this morning at 5:55 (yes, it is Sunday), Satoshi had to go to work and meet a client at 8:30. Since he was leaving the house at 6:30, I wanted to send him off with a musubi(rice ball) for breakfast.

So, after he left, I did a little stretching and then had my breakfast. Since I was up and it was only 7:00, I decided to bake.

I found a recipe in a Japanese book for madeleines, while reading the recipe I didn't know if it made 6 large ones OR 18 small ones or 6 large ones AND 18 small ones. It was neither.

I overfilled the large pan, so there wasn't much batter left for the small ones. Plus, I counted the grooves in my small pan and there were only 15. I guess I could blame it on the recipe, as it didn't say how much to fill each groove, but as I was filling the pan, something in the back of my head was telling me, "only half or three-fourths is good", which obviously I didn't listen to because I filled them up to the top.

Anyway, when you overfill your pan, this is what happens. The batter bonds with its neighboring madeleine and then you can't get them to separate from the pan or each other--I had to take a butter knife to these.

This is actually my second attempt at making madeleines, the first one was also a failure.

Still, the texture of the madeleine was nice--moist and not dense...sigh...unless you don't mind eating ugly madeleines, please don't come over for tea.

Have a nice week!

11 comments:

The Overworked Barista said...

there is actually a really good well detailed japanese-style recipe for green tea madeleines in the book "The Ethnic Paris" cookbook. Which I would just post here but the book is really worth a buy.

It goes into detail with all of the batter handling and such.

My first madeleines looked great but tasted a bit like dry cornbread. Which is odd sense there was no corn...So best of luck.

Brilynn said...

I'm just jealous that you have madeleine pans!

K and S said...

Thanks Barista, I'll check into the book. I actually added 1/2 tsp of matcha powder (green tea) to half of my madeleine batter, it came out quite tasty, just looked ugly.

I hope you'll be able to get some pans of your own Brilynn :)

Take care you two!
Kat

Jann said...

Well, I guess i won't be baking before 7am~that little experience could spoil your day. I bet they still tasted very good!

K and S said...

At least they tasted good, Jann. If they didn't then the whole day would have definitely been ruined :)

Take care.
Kat

The Lone Beader® said...

...I'm hungry now....

Peony said...

hi, you have a lovely blog. Have been reading it for some time. I have a daughter working in Kyoto too presently.

I have a simple madeleines here

http://myculinaryjournal.blogspot.com/2007/03/madeleines.html

Anonymous said...

Not to worry, Kat!

The first time I made madeleines I didn't butter the pans nearly enough. I literally had to scrape each one out of the pan.

I still think your madeleines are cute!

K and S said...

Thank you Lone Beader!

Thank you for the recipe Peony. I'll check it out and thanks for stopping by.

Thank you Ivonne, at least they tasted great!

Take care everyone.
Kat

ilingc said...

Kat, Never bake after 11pm. The same baking disasters happens too. I sympathise with your madeleines outcome, but will gladly eat them with my eyes closed if it would make you feel less uncomfortable :D
Don't give up just yet, madeleines makes the best tea cakes. I just made some a few weeks ago. I should really post about them. ;)

K and S said...

I'll make note of your tip, Ilingc. I've been munching on them so there aren't many more left. I think I'll be giving it another go again soon! Please post your recipe too, would love to see it :)

Take care.
Kat