Classic madeleine with no baking powder

Other flavour : vanilla and apricot >here<

A real treat... I often use madeleines in my drawings, their unusual shape give them such a personality, they are also really cute, really tasty, soft, with a hint of lemon, slightly crusty on the edge but buttery inside... should I say I love them ?
The secret of the madeleine is the resting of the dough, otherwise it won't rise up
It doesn't need baking powder !

- There was two recipe in the cookbook, I chose the left one, the right one would'nt be as good -

For around 16 regular-sized madeleines : 

2 big eggs

 0.6 cup of white sugar (5.3oz / 150gr)

1/2 cup of melted butter (4.4 oz / 125gr)

1.1 cup of flour (5.3 oz / 150 gr)

The shredded zest of a yellow lemon

- baking powder is not needed, if you put 1tsp, it will be lighter, that's all and the bump won't be as cute -

Turn on the oven at 430°F

Mix the eggs and sugar to obtain a white, foamy, soft cream,

 - you have to mix it at least 4 minutes -

Add slowly the flour by doing small circular movements with a wooden spoon,

- + baking powder if there is -

Add the melted butter, keep the dough light, vertical movements instead of horizontal ones

- still warm -

Add the lemon zest and mix again carefully

Do not mix it too much, once it's smooth, stop touching it, 

otherwise the madeleines will harden and won't rise that well

Let the dough rest a bit 

- not in the fridge, 25/30 minutes or so -

Put the dough in buttered madeleine pans 

- if they are not silicones -

Don't fill them completely 

 Leave it 7 minutes, then turn down the oven at 300°F and let it bake 3 to 4 more minutes

 If they are golden with a big hump, it's perfect, 

if they are too white, leave it one more minute
Depending if you have a metallic mold or a silicone one, you have to adapt the cooking time

- Yes you will feel the need to check how they are doing in there ! -

And they rised up well :D !

- mini-madeleines in silicon mold -

Let me know if you try :) You can change the lemon flavor with orange, vanilla, chocolate, add spices... I'll come to that in another post, after all the basics will be posted :)

Gougères - Cheese Puff

They have so much success when I have guests... and they are so easy to make !

Classic french appetizer, suits champagne perfectly

(I might try with some bacon in it)

Follow the recipe of the pâte à choux,

I precise in it the moment where your choux will become gougères

You have your bowl, full of warm dough, your eggs have been well mixed in it,

your dough is soft and light, 

Add 1tsp of nutmeg, another dash of salt, and a handful of shredded cheese 

- I add the shredded parmeggiano from Trader's Joe -

Mix it well !

Then you can go back to the pâte à choux recipe, you make nut-shaped puff with the dough, 

and before putting the tray in the oven, add some more cheese on the top of them so they will have a really nice aspect and color.

Cooking time is the same as in the pâte à choux recipe, remove them carefully from the wax paper and you can enjoy them while they are still warm.

I always have some in the freezer, put them in ziplocs, well closed and when you want to use them, 

take them out in a dish, for a half an hour, then 5 minutes in the oven at low temperature

 to warm them up, they will be ready to eat in no time.

Bon appetit :p 

Pâte à choux - Cream puff dough

Little puff, a lot of little puffs ! That you can fill of cream, jam, chocolate, ice cream... 

you can make desserts, salted apetizer and many more things ! One of the basic recipes in France.

Here is the main recipe for  more or less twenty little puffs

3,3 fl oz. of milk (10cL)

2 fl oz of water (6cL)

1/4 cup of butter (2oz / 60gr)

1/2 + cup of flour (2.65oz / 75gr) 

3 eggs

a hint of salt

Put in a pan the milk, the water, the butter in pieces and the salt

- for a dessert use, add 1sp. of white sugar, and drops of vanilla  -

Stay close, as soon as the boiling starts,

remove the pan from the heat, and put the flour all at once.

Start mixing with a wooden spoon with energy, 

and put in pack on the heat, at medium/high temperature

The flour must be in really quickly, 

and keep mixing for a few minutes, do not stop, you have to make the dough "work"

When the dough is ready, she will be slightly yellow, and it doesn't stick at all in the pan

You can then put it in a bowl, and add the eggs one by one.

They may seem hard to mix in the dough, but keep mixing after each one, 

you will have a really soft dough.

- This is where the Gougère recipe intervenes -

Turn on the oven at 450°F

On a cooking tray, put some was paper, and make small peaks of a nut size with the dough,

use two teaspoon to do it, space them of ~1.6 inch

Help the sides of the peaks so they stay round, not flat

Put in the oven 5 minutes,

then lower the temperature at 400°F for ten more 10 minutes

Finally, turn the oven off and let it 2/3 opened ten more minutes 

Total : 25 minutes in the oven, just to get prepared for the second row !

- Here they are, ready to be filled or eaten :p -

Allumettes au fromage - cheese matches

One of the first recipe I've tried from the book ! Occasions to enjoy them aren't rare, appetizers, buffet, snacks... They go really well with all kind of beverages (especially alcoohol ones)

- Here is the recipe in my g.grand-mother Vovoï cookbook -

Crusty, extremely light (in hands ;)), for cheese lovers !

A half pâte feuilletée will make more than 20 allumettes, 0.4 inch wide

   You will need :   

1 pâte feuilletée at "4 tours", salted

thin-shredded cheese

- That's it! -

1 egg yolk delayed in 1sp. of water

Do the last two "tours" of your pâte feuilletée by

displaying shredded cheese on the flattened dough, before folding

- you will have to display cheese twice, once for each folding -

Once you've reached 6 "tours",

put it back 15 min. in the fridgein its plastic film.

Turn on the oven at 430°F

You can now flatten the dough on your floured-work space.

Do a long strip of dough, from 4 to 4.7 inch wide (10-12cm),

and 0,15 to 0.19 inch thick (4-5 mm )

With a fresh and smooth knife,

cut the dough in strips of 0.4 to 1.2 inch wide (1-3cm), as you like

- strips are 0.15 to 0.19 wide (1 à 3cm) and 4 to 4.7 inch (10 à 12cm) -

trick : cut the border of the dough so it will raise well

Put the strips on a a cooking tray, or in a dish with edges

Each one apart from the others of 1.2 inch

Use a brush to gold them with the yolk delayed in a bit of water

- you can add 1 tsp. of nutmeg in it -

display shredded cheese on it

Put it in the oven a dozen of minutes, they have to be really golden.

Pâte feuilletée - Puff dough

Here is another 'basic" cooking recipe. It will allow you many variant and creativity. As you will soon see in a list at the end of the post.

2 cup of flour (8,8oz / 250gr)

- 3/4 cup of flour (100gr) for 1/4 cup of butter (60gr) -

10cL warm water (3,3 fl oz.)

5,3 oz de beurre (150gr)

salt

Mix the flour with the warm water to make a soft dough

Flatten it in a square shape (9.8 inch side)

Put the butter in the center, in another square shape (4 inch side)

Do as shown in the following drawing to fold the dough on the butter

Put it in a plastic film, 10 minutes in the fridge to harden the butter

After taking it out, flour your work space and your rolling pin

Flatten it as shown under, by respecting folding positions

Face up is always smooth

- you did one "tour" (result looks like a wallet) -

Turn it of 90°, do the same

- you did two "tour" -

Put the dough back in the plastic film and back in the fridge for 30 minutes

After those 30 minutes, do the same,

and put it back in the fridge for another 30 minutes

- you did 4 "tour" -

After those 30 minutes, do the same,

and put it back in the fridge for 30 minutes

- you did 6 "tours" -

You can flatten your dough for your final use,

you have successfully realized a pâte feuilletée à 6 tours !

Here is what I've done of mine, les allumettes au fromage of Vovoï, my great grand-mother.

- Once cut, the raw pâte feuilletée lets you see all the layers it's made of ! -

All chocolate tart

- Photo taken just after being in th fridge, two last slices ! -

This recipe makes a good use of pâte sablée ( Cookie dough ) with cocoa

Il vous faut :

1 pâte sablée cacaotée

- or a regular one, orange one, vanilla, coconut... :) -

14.1oz of chocolate between 60% and 70% (400gr)

6.7 fl oz. of milk (20cL)

6.7 fl oz. of light whipped cream (20cL)

2 eggs

10gr of Vanillla sugar

- or few drops of vanilla extract -

Turn the oven on at 300°F

Prepare a tart dish, put the flattened dough in it and use a fork to drill the dough

  (8 or 10 fork drill at equal distance from each other)

Put in the oven the dough for 15 minutes

Make water boil in a casserole or a steamer,

in a bowl, break the chocolate in squares, and verse the boiling water on it.

Leave it 4 to 5 minutes.

Put the milk and the cream to boil in another casserole.

Beat the eggs and the vanilla in a bowl and reserve in the fridge.

Remove the water from the chocolate by letting the water run slowly in the sink 

until there is 1spoon of water left 

- to keep as much chocolate as possible in the bowl - 

Add the warm cream and milk, mix it.

Once it's homogeneous, add the eggs and mix until the cream is smooth and shiny. 

Put the dough out of the oven (it must be 15 minutes) Verse all the chocolate cream in it.

Put it back in the oven for 30 minutes

Then let it get cooler and keep it in the fridge for a few hours.

Take out 10/15 minutes before eating :) 

Pâte Sablée - Cookie Dough

I use that dough for cream tarts, chocolate tarts, cookies... I love it just like that with a different flavor every time. It goes perfectly with a tea, coffee, or a cream/ice cream. Hard to stop when you start eating one!

For 400gr of pâte sablée (14oz)

trick - cut it in half to make two flavor !

1 egg

1/2 cup of white sugar (4,4 oz / 125gr)

2 cup of flour (8,8 oz / 250gr )

1/2 cup of butter (4,4 oz /125gr )

a hint of salt (3gr)

In a recipient, put the egg, the salt and the sugar.

With a wooden spoon, mix it until it's white and creamy

Add all the flour and mix it with the spoon until it gets into the dough.

With your fingers, turn the dough into sand by rubbing it smoothly between your fingers.

Once it's sandy, put it aside and take some to push on the butter. With the top of your finger, carefully, add little by littl the sandy dough in the butter. It has to stay firm.

When you're done, take the dough and drop it,

- she is jumpin' ! -

on your floured work table a few times,

to make it perfectly "pétrie" and homogene.

Once it's perfect, you can flatten it so it reaches a thickness of 2 to 4 mm

To make a chocolate dough as I use for the chocolate tart or the following cookies, add unsweetened cacao to the flour (1,4 oz)

Pâte brisée - Shortcrust dough

This dough is the most common one, she is used in many dishes and can be flavoured with herbs or spices just as you like it.

According to me, some oregano and basilic are perfect for a "quiche" or a salted tart.

For a sugar pie/tart you can add cinammon (1tsp), sugar (2tsp), or vanilla (1tsp) for example :)

Here is our family recipe, same as everywhere else

1/2 cup of butter (4,4oz / 125gr)

(salted or unsalted depending on what you want to do)

- out of the fridge 40 minutes before -

a bit less than 2 cup of flour (8,8oz / 250gr)

- add the herbs or spices in it -

(1 stick of butter for 1cup 3/4 flour)

5cL of cool water (1,7 fl oz)

(pour que ça ne colle pas aux doigts)

In a recipient, put the butter and add the flour :

use your thumbs to push the flour in the butter, the dough with become sand by itself.

Once it's homogene (no piece of butter left alone), add the water to thehat sand,

and make your dough drink it, you can hold now it in your hand.

- use some more flour if it's too sticky, or more water if it's too sandy, but it should be the perfect proportions -

It shouldn't take your more than ten minutes, it's ready to use.

If it's still too sticky it's because your butter is too soft,

put it in a plastic film and leave it in the fridge for 20 minutes or so,

it will be easier to flatten it.

Cigarettes, the ice cream cookie

To go with a cup of coffee, tea, ice cream... jam, here is the recipe I chose from Vovoï's cookbook today. It worked out pretty well !

For twenty cookies,

   you will need :   

4 eggwhites

- at least 20 minutes in the fridge -

3.5 oz of softened butter (100g)

- cut in dice and let it soften an hour before use -

a big 1/2 cup of white sugar (5.3 oz / 150g)

a cup of flour (4.2 oz / 120g)

Turn on the oven at 430°F

Beat the eggwhites with the sugar 2 or 3 minutes

- if you use an electric one, choose the slowest speed -

Add the flour, and mix it with small circular moves with a wooden spoon, starting from the center, and growing with the flour being mixed. Add the softened butter and mix again.

Butter the cooking tray, or the wax paper.

Make some circular shape of 1.6 to 1.9 inch wide (4/5cm) with a teaspoon.

Space them well,

- at least 1.8 inch apart from each other -

Put the tray in the oven 5 to 10 minutes, until the border of the cake has a nice golden color.

Get them out and make them slide on your work table.

Use the stick of your wooden spoon to roll them around it.

You have to be quick, and don't burn yourself ! They get hard pretty fast !

Ready to eat when they're cool !