Happy Unbirthday Funfetti Madeleines

I told you I loved sprinkles.

Do you know who else does?  My dear friend Rochelle.

It's also NOT her birthday today.  It's in 3 weeks.  March 5th, March 25th - an easy mistake to make.  One that I made when I baked these a few days ago.  After I had taken pictures and packaged them up to mail to Philadelphia (our friendship is somewhat of a long distance romance), I double checked and saw that I was off by 20 days.  Oops.

Oh well, who doesn't love cookies the month of their birthday anyways? And who doesn't love sprinkles?

These were super easy to make.  Although I admit I might have used up the rest of this bottle of sprinkles on this project.   Maybe if  I hadn't used more than half the bottle a few weeks ago to make myself a necklace I would have had more.  But I think this will do just fine for Unbirthday Funfetti madeleines.

Funfetti/Sprinkle Madeleines
Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes.  Makes 30. 

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for brushing molds
1 1/4 c. sifted cake flour1/2 tsp. baking powder1/4 tsp. salt3 large eggs1 tsp. vanilla2/3 c granulated sugar1 tablespoon sprinkles, plus additional for sprinkling (ha). 

Directions:1. Melt butter in microwaveable bowl and set aside to cool.  Brush on additional mixture onto madeline pans.  (You literally brush it into the little crevices so that the cookies don't stick to the pan.)
3. In mixer, beat eggs on high until foamy, add in vanilla.  Add in sugar and beat until mixture triples in volume.
4. Fold in flour to sugar/egg mixture, slowly and in additions until combined.
7. Fill madeline pans with batter.  Add a pinch of sprinkles to the top of the batter so that the colors remain prominent. 

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Fold butter in.
6. Add tablespoon of sprinkles and gently fold in.
8. Bake in oven.


She didn't complain one bit at the very early arrival of a package.  I mean, would you?  I can describe the fun colors for you, but you can see them.  All I can really say is SPRINKLES.

I've been chomping at the bit to make something with sprinkles. Maybe that's why I got too excited and forgot the date of her real birthday?  Unfortunately though, this has not satisfied my urge what so ever.  If you check out my pinterest inspiration board you will see it overflowing with rainbows.  All the Easter pastels and colors at Target aren't helping either.  Who knows what else I'll come up with between now and then?  ;)

But for now, i'll leave you with these lovely madeleines made for an even lovelier girl .

Happy Unbirthday Roch.  You are an amazing, intelligent, determined and strong woman.  Thank you for being a constant inspiration in my life.

xoxo,
Anna

Chocolate Covered Orange Madeleines (Go Giants!)

What on earth, you may ask, does an orange and the (2010 World Series Champs, holla) San Francisco Giants have to do with my little baking blog?

Everything, of course.  Because I baked orange madeleines (in flavor and in color) and then dipped them in chocolate ganache.  Orange and Black!  Just like my team's colors. And then I took them with me to our annual tail gating event.  (Bay Bridge Series; Oakland A's vs the SF Giants.  The stadiums are less than 20 miles away from each other and the rivalry gets fierce with so many fans on either side!  It's a summer highlight for me because I love baseball almost as much as I love my awesome friends.)

I'd source the madeleine recipe for you all if I could.  But I seriously got it off the back of my madeleine pan's cardboard wrapping when I first bought it.  

Orange Madeleines
Bake at 350* for 8 minutes. Makes 16. 


2/3 c flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon orange extract

1/2 teaspoon shredded orange peel

1 cup powdered sugar

(optional orange gel food coloring)

Directions:

1. Sift flour and baking powder and set aside.

2. Beat eggs, orange peel and extract on high for 5 minutes.

3.Gradually beat in sugar for another five minutes/until thick.

4. Fold in flour.  Add food coloring if desired.

5. Fold in butter and mix until smooth.

6. Fill your Madeleine pan(s) and bake until edges start to lift.  Remove from pan and let cool on wire racks.

They came out, super orangey.  Yay!

Then the fun part.  Dipping them in chocolate. I used the same recipe for the ganache that I did for my raspberry double-decker cupcakes cuz it's totally delicious. 

By the way, every time that I unwrap a Ghirardelli baking bar and see the gold foil underneath I get excited.  It's like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the golden ticket.  Cuz you win amazing things in your tummy everyyyy time.

Chocolate Ganache

3 oz heavy cream

3 oz good quality dark cocoa chocolate

Directions:

1. Bring heavy cream to a simmer in sauce pan.

2. Pour over chopped chocolate (or chips) in a heat proof bowl and whisk until smooth.

Get your cookies ready!  

Cuz now you just take your cooled cookie and dip half of it in the bowl.  Bonus points if your nails are awesome like mine.  A little smudgey, but awesome.

Place on wax paper or rack and let harden.  Refrigerate if necessary.  

You should note that my bowl is huge because I doubled the recipe you see above.  Like a dumbass. (More like I didn't reduce the original. Bad idea.)  I HAD SO MUCH GANACHE LEFT OVER lololol.  (I ended up using it all though.  I'll show you how next week!)  

Awesome way to show off my love for my team, right?  The flavors were awesome together too.  Orange + Chocolate = Nom. Need to make that into a cupcake at some point.  Maybe when we win the 2012 World Series?  ;)

Let me add just one more little thing though.... Better right?  Gotta rep' them all the way! 

Though I would like to point out that I love themes in general, so I did also make green and yellow drunk gummy bears (rummy gummies!) in honor of the A's.  Yup.  Gummi bears soaking in rum for a week.  Don't you want to tail gate with me?  'Till next year crappy A's stadium!  

xoxo,

Anna

P.S.  Yes, Gigantes is Giants in Spanish. 

Classic Vanilla Madeleines

Madeleines are probably in my top three favorite cookies of all time. Ever. I discovered them at Starbucks while cutting P.E. class during high school and have been in love ever since.

This is the second round of plain vanilla madeleines I have made.  This recipe calls for a lot of butter.  A lot.  Haha.  That's what makes cookies so good after all, right?  Lots of melted butter.  A stick and a half to be exact.

Madeleines had always seemed so hard to make that it took me years to build up the courage to make them but I finally caved a few weeks/months ago and bought a pan.  The pan forced me to make them and now I admit they are so easy to make it is ridiculous.  (Does this mean I should move on and try the ever-daunting macaroons???)

Recipe taken from here.

Vanilla Madeleines 
Makes around 30 full sized madelines. Bake at 350* for about 8-10 minutes.


1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for brushing molds
1 1/4 c. sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c granulated sugar
(Optional: confectioners sugar for dusting)

Directions:
1. Melt butter in microwaveable bowl and set aside to cool.  Brush on additional mixture onto madeline pans.  (You literally brush it into the little crevices so that the cookies don't stick to the pan.)

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In mixer, beat eggs on high until foamy, add in vanilla.  Add in sugar and beat until mixture triples in volume.
4. Fold in flour to sugar/egg mixture, slowly and in additions until combined.

5. Fold butter in.
6. Fill madeline pans with batter and bake.

I know I love to talk about ziplock bags a alot, but seriously I cannot stress how awesome they are.  Have you tried this yet?

Spoon in the batter (or icing if you are frosting) into the bag... but put the bag in a tall cup first.  This prevents you from getting batter all over your hands.  I am an expert at that, by the way.

Then just gently but quickly squeeze the batter into the molds.

Nothing is more exciting than seeing a tray full of cookies just begging to be baked into something good.

I think they taste better the second or third day.  So make a lot, because they just get better with age.  :)  I made these for Mother's Day, actually.  I have a tendency to bake my mom things (read as cupcakes) for her birthday and have her not like them...  so i decided to go with Madeleines because she had liked a previous batch I had made.  Apparently my sweet tooth is not genetic because the reason she likes these so much is because they are not too sweet.  Strange, I know.

These are obviously, just plain vanilla ones.  Generously sprinkled with powdered sugar of course.

I tried strawberry ones but I need to make some tweaks before I post them on the blog.  I also have a few more ideas for next month -- I am preparing some sweet treats for our annual tail gating party.  You'll see some orange and black on here soon.  ;)

xoxo,
Anna