Are you there February 2014? It's me Deirdre, please don't leave me. I am hanging on like a bird in a tree during a tornado.
Today I ate this Heuvos Rancheros for dinner with guacamole and sweet potato chips but that just whet my appetite for delicious avocado so I made this Avocado Hummus with tortilla chips. Mexico meets the Middle East. I could eat that stuff with a soup ladle. I didn't obviously (warning not so obvious). Get this on your Friday night chat show food menu. Seriously.
This is the second time I have featured madelines. These are sort of a twist on the classic vanilla and almond and coffee and chocolate are a combination from heaven, there is no doubt about that. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, these babies won't make February slow down but they will ease the transition into March!
From Will Torrent's Pattisserie at Home
125g butter
100g icing sugar
30g ground almond
30g plain flour
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 instant coffee
3 large egg whites
2 tps honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1. Brush the madeline tin with butter and dust with flour. Place in the fridge.
2. Put the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and allow to melt. Continue to cook until it turns golden brown and the sizzling stops. This is browning butter.
3. Sift the sugar, ground almonds, flour, cocoa powder and salt into a dry bowl.
4. Whisk in coffee, egg whites, honey and vanilla with a balloon whisk.
5. Finally whisk in the cooled browned butter.
6. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
7. Preheat the oven to 170oC. Place a heaped tablespoon of mixture into the holes in the madeline tin.
8. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes so that a skin can form.
9. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the pan and then ease out with a butter knife.