Matcha Tea Madeleines — Madeleines au thé Matcha
Bye bye snow, in a few days, hello summer, this is what we will see!
Shots taken from our last trip to New Zealand in Feb 2003.
In preparation for our long long long flight in a few days, I started to bake comfort/airport food. Convenient and homemade (super important to me! 
), it is just what makes us happy when we are feeling tired and grumpy because of the extreme wait in airports – particularly the LA one, which I am not a big fan of. There is no comfort to be found there for sure, especially NOT in food. I am even dreading the sight of bad food. If only we could have flown through San Francisco, we would at least have managed to get nice sushi and miso soup as we did a few years ago while on transit. But, I will survive, of course, because in my little bag, I will carry a survival kit. For anyone thinking this is crazy, you would not after a few bad meals in a row, such as the ones you get in the LA terminal. It is guaranteed! In my survival kit, I will carefully place mes madeleines!
Les madeleines
I had to start making something that is coming from my area in France. To tell the honest truth, the specialities from Lorraine are not the French food that I am the most in love with, that is charcuterie of all kinds, quiche lorraine, all in all, a very rich food especially if compared to the South where you use a lot of olive oil, zucchinis, eggplants, garlic and tomatoes. There are however a few things that I believe deserve a closer attention. Amongst those are les madeleines.
Commercy is the area where they are known to come from.
According to the history, it is during the XVIIIth century that those cakes were created. In the village of Commercy in the North-East of France, Madeleine Paumier was a young lady working as the Marquise Perrotin de Baumont ’s maid. One day, in the absence of the cook, she improvised a cake recipe that was served to the Duke Stanislas Leszczynski. He immediately loved them and the madeleines de Commercy were born there. But there are divergent opinions about this particular story. And so, for our records, we will only and solely focus on the cakes, disregarding the history of it!
There are of course a lot of recipes for madeleines. Some are better than others. I have tried a few, and all in all, what mattered the most to me was that they did not leave me with an overwhelming feeling of richness. Too buttery? Not good.
The recipe I decided to go with was a combination of what I read and how I adapted it to make “me” happy. Less rich, with a nice sense of matcha tea. TWorth noticing that in case you can resist, they also keep well in a metallic box, away from humidity. For future breaks during the day.
You need:
- 160 g flour
- 100 g soft butter
- 100 g sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp matcha tea
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 pinch of salt
Steps
- Preheat your oven temp. 300 F (150 C). Break the eggs and beat them.
- Place the soft butter, the salt and sugar in a bowl and mix until it becomes white. Then continue and add one egg after the other.
- Add the flour and the tea with the baking powder.
- Place in buttered madeleine molds and bake for about 20 mns.
- Take out and let cool.
Looking like this as they come out of the oven
Turned to show that they are madeleines! Quand même!
Molds can be found here or there, as examples.
I hope Proust will not mind this new 20th century version of his madeleine La madeleine de Proust .
20 Comments »
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Béa, I’m with you when it comes to packing food. I remember some of the looks my wife and I got on our return flight from Paris to Toronto as we enjoyed our two baguettes, several cheeses, and our pâtés. Some people thought we were odd, most were just jealous. All I know is that it’s a vast improvement over airplane food.
The madeleines look delicious. I must say I’m surprised they’ll stay fresh so long.
I hope you have a wonderful trip. How long are you gone for?
Bon voyage.
Comment by rob — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 12:26 am
Bea,
I’m burning the midnight oil and I’m glad as I get to see these lovely photos!
I’m so excited that soon you will be in NZ … your photos are lovely.
Madeleines are one of my favourite treats. Scented with orange, I wish I could have one of yours right now!
Bonne nuit …
Comment by Ivonne — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 12:49 am
Have an amazing trip!
And, I’ll have to try this great looking recipe. I fell in love with madeleines when we were in Chamonix. The hotel served them every afternoon for tea. So delicious after a day of skiing (or just laying about).
Comment by L — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 1:04 am
Very smart to pack some emergency food…your madeleines look great!
Have a very safe, but enjoyable trip!
Comment by Kat & Satoshi — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 2:01 am
Have a nice journey and enjoy yourself! I’m looking forward to your report when you come back! And the first pic is beautiful!
Comment by ilva — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 2:32 am
Lovely photos as usual. I have always wanted to go to New Zealand, hope you have a good time there.
Comment by Gracianne — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 3:49 am
These pictures are amazing !
Comment by Papilles&Pupilles — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 5:12 am
They are beautiful !!!
Comment by Marie-Laure — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 5:24 am
oh deary me.. I am absolutely addicted to Matcha, anything with matcha with me works! should try with pasta one day too!
) beautiful!
Comment by fiordizucca — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 5:33 am
Hey ! That’s funny, my last post was about matcha’s madeleines too: http://miam.over-blog.net/article-1652602.html
Welcome to the Matcha’s fans club
My trick to get the good shape: bake first at 230°C, for 5-8 minutes, then at 180°C for 5 more minutes.
Enjoy
Comment by San des Frangines — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 7:02 am
Rob,
Yes airport food can turn a hectic travelling time into a more pleasant one, n’est-ce pas? I will be gone for 3 weeks. Cannot wait!
The madeleines keep for a few days, with me about 4 or 5, but only if no humidity. 
Ivonne,
Hope you had a good night!
Madeleines indeed would have been nice to accompany you, although, you surely have a nice batch of some goodies around, i trust you!
L,
Merci! I think the trip will be nice indeed!
Ah Chamonix, so nice. I am sure you must have had a great time!
Kat,
Yes emergency food is always with us. Madeleines are only a small part of it
We always take sushi too 
Ilva,
Thank you! There surely will be a lot of pics, I need many many cards!
Gracianne,
Thanks a lot. Make the trip! It is really worth it!
Papilles and Pupilles and Marie-Laure,
Merci!
Francesca,
Yes I am addicted to Matcha too. I would love to see your pasta. This is an excellent idea. Wonder what sauce would go with it.
San des frangines,
Thanks so much. Funny coincidence indeed. I will try your trick! I was wondering whether there was a trick
Comment by Béa — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 11:04 am
I hope a good and wonderful trip … And this madeleine are delicious, yummy, yummy… Bon voyage et à bientôt…
Comment by Fabienne — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Merci Fabienne!
I will be here for two more posts, and then, zoum, dans l’avion et a bientot!!
Comment by Béa — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Hey! I’m not the only one mad about Madeleines…yours look lovely…
Comment by David — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 2:34 pm
hi Bea,
Beautiful first pic! And I am also a matcha fan so great job!
Hope you have a great time in NZ!
Comment by Anita — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 8:01 pm
Hi, I don’t want to disappoint you but you should not get your hopes too high re kiwi weather… it’s rather overcast at the moment. Very warm and humid too, it’s like being in the Islands during the hurricane season…
Let me know if you stay in Auckland.
Have a safe trip
Comment by Céline — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Hi David,
Thank you! I am surely as mad as you are about les bonnes madeleines! You must be in madeleine paradise in Paris!
Anita, merci! Yes matcha is addictive. I actually did not know how much caffeine it had until recently!
Celine,
Ah yes I will keep an eye on the weather. Merci. Yes we are passing through Auckland, we could meet up for a drink!
Bea
Comment by Béa — On February, 2nd, 2006 at 9:10 pm
[...] With the purchase of my new silicone madeleine bakeware and my cool little I-don’t-know-what-this-is find, I decided to give it a go. Lots of my fellow food bloggers have also been whipping up some beautiful looking madeleines as well, but they took more adventuresome routes – chocolate or matcha. I was hoping to recreate those from Chamonix, and so just went plain, taking the recipe from the Joy of Cooking. I really want to try the Lemon Madeleine recipe in Bill’s Food sometime, but I knew that wouldn’t be quite what I was craving. [...]
Pingback by cookbook 411: Trials and Tribulations of Cooking By The Book — On February, 9th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
This looks great! Do grocery stores like Ralph’s or Vons sell matcha?
Comment by charity — On October, 20th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
[...] claim to have revised it in anyway. Rather, if you’d like to try these yourself, stop by La Tartine Gourmande and see what she inspires. I also borrowed her recipe for the Chocolate Pots du [...]
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