The Madeleine is a little buttery cake that originates from Commercy and Liverdun in northeastern France. These areas are close to Verdun, where we are offering our new World War I history tours. The name 'Madeleine' came from the first name of the lady of Commercy, who invented this French-style mini-muffin.

Quick Video of Emilie making Madeleines

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ39449kSiM theme:dark color:red provider:youtube]

 

The famous French author Marcel Proust wrote a long nostalgic passage in 'Swann's Way' about his childhood memories of dunking his madeleine into a cup of tea and putting it into his mouth: “No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate, than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me.” 

These are simple, elegant little cakes, and this is my recipe for making 18 little Madeleines.

Madeleine cakes

 

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 100g flour
  • 100g melted butter
  • 1 table spoon of baking soda
  • 75g sugar
  • 3 teaspoons of milk
  • lemon zest
  • some orange blossom water

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F

Step 2: Start mixing the flour, baking soda and the eggs a little, followed shortly by the sugar, butter and milk, and continue to mix.

Step 3: Add the lemon zest and orange blossom water.

Step 4: Put the mixture in the molds and wait for 10 minutes before putting in the oven (an Amazon link in case you need the mold)

Step 5: Leave in the oven for about 8 minutes. Put a knife in a Madeleine to make sure it is cooked (the knife will come out clean when they are ready)

And finally... Boil the water for some tea, and enjoy your Madeleines just like Proust!

 

Bon Appétit!

 

France Just For You

Experts in self-drive tours in France

Travelers Reviews

5.0
Cynthia & Abe from Canada
There's a legitmate reason everyone is giving 5 star reviews. Truly personalized service. The guidebook and app were tailored to our requests, and the small details included, gave us great insight into the nuances of travelling in France. When an unavoidable problem came up, Emilie and Clelia were on it literally within minutes, getting it resolved …
Dan
I communicated directly with Emilie who is very serious about their business of providing self guided tours. She prepared a proposal that matched what I had requested. Payment arrangements were easy. We really got to visit with local people. We rarely saw a tour bus. France - Just For You arranged visits with guides (wine tasting day in St. Emilion …
Joel
We highly recommend Emilie’s services. She put together an excellent itinerary. She made all the arrangements and the guides she retained for us where top notch. The B&B accommodations were very good, the hosts were terrific and we enjoyed the other travelers we met at breakfast. We did two table d'hote dinners which were excellent and her …
Cathy
France Just For You planned the trip of a lifetime for my husband and me. We traveled to Normandy, St. Saint Michele, the Loire Valley and Provence. We are typically not road trip travelers, but this adventure brought us closer to the wonderful people of France than any group tour or "drop and plop" vacation could ever do. The bed and breakfasts …
Brigitte
We want to thank you and Guillaume for a wonderful itinerary and such amazing personalized attention. Every touch was added with so much special care and your willingness to answer all of my questions in such detail ahead of time was truly amazing. The guidebook and ‘care package’ you sent was so exciting and really helped us a lot with every day …
Lucelle
I was amazed when I came across the website that ALL the reviews were excellent. From the moment I started dealing with Emilie I received amazing service in planning our wonderful trip to France. I will not repeat all the details that are in the previous posts but highlight some of the exceptional service that I received. The booking of the …