I've always loved madeleines. Something about their delicate nature or unusual shape has always drawn me to them. Most people's familiarity with madeleines probably comes from their standing in line at Starbucks where they're conveniently packaged for sale.
But the traditional French madeleine or petite madeleine is surprisingly easy to make and very satisfying. Madeleines are actually very small sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in a specialty pan. Considering that April 1 felt much more like March 1 than the entire month of March, the overcast skies and cool temperatures beckoned for some these delightful comfort cookies.
I used this recipe and was very pleased with the result. I'm excited to try other variations in the future. I also look forward to having a few tomorrow with my tea.
No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. ... Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it? ... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea.
—Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time
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