Coconut Madeleines

With Bastille Day coming up next week, I thought I'd make a favorite cookie of mine--the Madeleine. 

Madekeines are little cake-like cookies that are baked in special molds that give them a delicate, shell shape. According to the story, the name "Madeleine" was given to the cookies by Louis XV to honor his father-in-law's cook, Madeleine Paulmier. Louis first tasted the cookie at the Chateau Commercy in Lorraine in 1755. Louis' wife, Marie, introduced them to the court and they soon became all the rage at Versailles. Whatever the origin, they are inextricably linked with author Marcel Proust, who described them as "...little shell of cake, so generously sensual beneath the piety of its stern pleating."

It's been a while since I've baked Madeleines, but when I saw a recipe from one of my goddesses, Ina Garten, with that coconut twist, I decided it was time for a celebration.

Yield:  24 cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbs melted butter, to grease the pans

3 extra-large eggs, room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup sweetened, shredded coconut, coarsely chopped

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

water

1/2 tsp coconut flavoring

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Thoroughly butter and flour the Madeleine pans.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed for 3 minutes, or until light yellow and fluffy. Add the 1/4 lb of melted butter and mix thoroughly. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt and stir into the batter with a rubber spatula. Stir in the coconut.

With a soup spoon, drop the batter into the prepared pans, filling each shell almost full. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until they spring back to the touch and are lightly golden. Remove from the oven and immediately tap out onto parchment paper and allow to cool.

Make the glaze by adding water to the confectioners sugar and coconut flavoring until it has a pourable consistency. Place the Madeleines on a wire rack and spoon the glaze over them, allowing excess to drip off. Let air dry for 2 hours or until glaze has set.

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TASTE NOTES

I've never had Madeleines with a glaze, but must admit that this was a wonderful addition. These cookies (or little cakes, if you will) had just enough coconut flavor to make them special. I liked them very much, but am looking forward to my next batch of regularly-flavored Madeleines, which I intend to glaze with dark chocolate. Vive La France!

Christmas Cookies

There was a time when Christmas baking began the day after Thanksgiving. It would take the 4 weeks between that holiday and Christmas for the stollen to mellow and for me to bake all my favorites (and there are many). Cookies were wrapped and frozen until just before Christmas when I would make up trays and platters to give away as gifts. Of course, it was always necessary to sample the wares and that is one of the reasons I no longer do that kind of baking.

Needing to make up about 15 small bags of cookies to give away to local seniors served by a volunteer group I work with, I turned to a simple recipe that goes together quickly and produces a stiff dough that rolls out easily and bakes up in 12 minutes. The recipe yielded 12 dozen cookies. These are butter cookies, not too sweet, and, for some reason, they've been labeled Italian Christmas cookies. My mother always made them in twists, but I opted to use small to medium-sized cookie cutters.

Cookies
12 cups flour
12 large eggs
1 lb unsalted butter
4 cups sugar
3 Tbs baking powder
2 Tbs vanilla
2 Tbs almond extract

Glaze
2 cups confectioners' sugar
milk
dash extract (almond or vanilla or anise or peppermint)

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, baking powder, extracts, and 3 cups of the flour. Add remaining flour until a stiff dough forms. At this point, you can divide the dough and color it, if you wish. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Work with 1/4 of the dough at a time. Roll out on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out desired shapes.If dough gets warm, place it back in the refrigerator until it chills. You must keep your surface well-floured. Place cookies on silicone mats and bake 10-12 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Cool completely, then glaze and decorate with sprinkles, colored sugar, etc.

To make glaze:  add dash of extract then small amount of milk; add just enough milk to make the glaze like a thick Alfredo sauce.
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TASTE NOTES
A simple, not-too-sweet butter cookie, these cookies are perfect for baking with children or for when you need a large quantity of cookies in a short amount of time. The dough puffs up nicely when they bake and they keep well in an airtight tin.