Chocolate Madeleines

What happened to September? It's almost the end of October and I realized I haven't blogged in awhile.

Well in tribute to my trip to Paris, I wanted to make something French. While overseas, I had a wonderful time exploring with my husband. We ate lots of food (I finally got a crepe!) and visited a bunch of touristy sites. And took time to picnic by the Seine and stroll through the gardens of Versailles. I think the food was definitely a highlight of our trip. Not so great when we were first in London, but drastically improved once we arrived in Paris. After returning, I was inspired to bake.

For my birthday, my sister Amie had gotten me a couple tea party recipe books. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE tea parties? One of the books in particular was really neat because it had recipes from various tea houses in Europe. The recipe I used is from the Ritz Hotel in Paris. They are called "Madeleines de Proust" on the menu there, after Proust who mentioned this cookie in his Remembrances of Things Past. I used the chocolate variation of the recipe.

I have mixed feelings about how they turned out. Generally I like a moist, slightly cakey cookie, but these turned out a little too dense. And not as chocolately as I had hoped. I really thought they would come out tasting like brownies or devil's food. (I added plenty of dutch processed cocoa and also an ounce of melted bittersweet chocolate.) But alas, it was not meant to be. I personally blame it on the honey, an ingredient that I've never associated with madeleines. But maybe that is the French way...

All in all, the recipe was a nice way for me to reminisce about my trip and ease back into baking with something simple. And, like my trip, after awhile, the cookies improved with each bite.