Bear Bakes Madeleines

 While you're leisurely nibbling your chocolate Easter oeufs/eggs, Bear and I raised hell in the kitchen attempting to bake again. This time we may have hit the mark with the traditional French madeleine...almost.

 We did A LOT of research before plunging in.

Research is much easier than baking. We started with Chef Marthe Brohan's recipe from Meeting the French since it was a terrific winner - perfect little yellow cakes.

 We moved on to The Bonne Femme cookbook - very thorough indeed.

 Finally refering to David Lebovitz' The Sweet Life in Paris madeleine recipe. Bear and I mostly stuck with David, since the measurements were in English and there were plenty of minute details for 'idiots-in-the kitchen' like ourselves.

Fortunately we brought home some real French baking powder we spotted in Chef Marthe's pantry!

 And we just got our first ever madeleine pan from Amazon. It worked well for us. Who knew?

 Now for the nitty-gritty of putting the ingredients (flour-eggs-butter-sugar) together. Why is painting a watercolor easy as pie? But go whip up a couple of eggs and sugar and I want to jump out the window.

 David says to sift in the flour (with one hand) while 'folding' the batter with the other. At least you paint with only ONE hand.

 Then you 'dribble' in the melted butter + zest (I only had an organic lime malheureusement). Again a two-handed operation. Do people bake without Zanex?

 My batter looked sad IMHO.

 Nothing like the golden, smooth-flowing batter of Chef Marthe. *Important secret to making madeleines, after putting the batter into the pan (3/4 full only svp), they MUST REST in the fridge for at least ONE HOUR. That's how you get the precious 'hump'/bump.
Chef Marthe says you must WAIT in cooking always.
Patience is required.
Who knew?

 Ouuuuuf!

 Et voila!

By some miracle the stars were in the right constellation and our madeleines came out looking like MADELEINES!
We even got the oft-missed famous 'poof', bump or puff!

 Bear and Babar were thrilled to take tea at gouter/snack time(4:30pm). The madeleines were nicely crunchy outside and NOT tough on the inside! I thought they could have been a tad sweeter. Perhaps the lime zest was to blame? Certainly neither Bear nor I licked any spoons/bowls in the process. We're getting 'the training' c/o 'Bringing Up Bebe'.

Weekend baking is a oui.

Licking the bowl is a non non.

As is tasting the fruits of your labor when it is not 'GOUTER' time. We cleverly planned our baking venture for late afternoon. Ha!
We gave our neighbors half the madeleines for safe keeping, ahem. Restraint is the next lecon and Pamela's yogurt cake.

A BIG MERCI to Girl's Guide to Paris for including PB on their BEST PARIS BLOGS list. Do take a look. I know you're waiting till 4:30pm to nibble those oeufs chocolat bien sur.

Resolutions and Green Smoothies

 So we're back in the kitchen for some fun, games and catastrophes...

 Natch, like you I spent the New Year's holiday repenting December's marshmallows and gingerbread. After watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead I was ready to turn a new page. I rejoined my pool (after a 4 month hiatus), ordered a new suit on Amazon (it has to stretch and I have to shrink) and decided to make Green Smoothies!

 Luckily I have a terrific niece-chef-author, Luisa Shafia of Lucid Food who has the easiest Green smoothie recipe out there - no Breville juicer required! Just a blender.

 This is my first smoothie ever and I gotta say this is not bad at all. In fact it's darn good! I'm hoping/praying one a day will put me in fighting shape for Paris pastries come March. Try it. You'll like it :)

 With the leftover kale I made kale chips. These do not taste like potato chips IMHO but maybe I'll adjust...ahem

 Why are the streets of Paris paved with fabulous bread but I can't find anything I like in NYC?

 I read about Scandinavian Brodmix Flerkorn you can make in a box at Ikea Brooklyn and ran to get some.

 It took enormous will power to resist Ikea's gingerbread cookies (on sale too).

 And Swedish fish! miam miam

 I did succombe to Ikea's smoked salmon. miam miam

 Yesterday I did hand-to-hand baking combat with the brodmix. Basically you toss 2 1/2 cups water (20 oz.) into the box and shake violently. Then toss into a baking tin. Let ferment 45+ minutes.

 I threw in extra seeds for more grit...

 Bake for 1 hour at 400 degrees in a well-greased pan.

 The bread tastes delicious and is supremely grainy and nutty the way I like it.

I just can't get the damn stuff out of the pan! I need an electric drill to remove it.

Any suggestions PBers are most welcome.

Happy New Year's Resolutions to you too!