Lemon-Lavender Madeleine Cookies, a Belated Birthday + OXO Giveaway!!



Bon Appetit!! As many of you already know, August 15th would have been Julia Child's 100th Birthday!  PBS Food has created a wonderful website to honor this great American icon which I strongly urge you to go check out. Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.pbs.org/food/julia-child-100-birthday/.

They featured one of my many favorite quotes from her:




Having fun in the kitchen is so important, it should be fun and exciting to see how your creation turns out to be! It's empowering to be able to say "I made that!," and for me one of the most rewarding things is having my loved ones enjoy my food. I feel like Julia Child helped so many home cooks become empowered to learn how to cook at home. It is on my bucket list to someday go see her kitchen at the Smithsonian in D.C. So in honor of Julia Child's birthday I decided to make some French Madeleine cookies. On one of my dance tours to France I picked up this Mastrad silicone madeleine pan:



If you've never tried madeleines before they are best described as little French butter cookies that are cake like and soft on the inside and slightly crisp and golden brown on the outside! Lots of bakeries sell them, as well as Starbucks....but once you try these you'll never go back to those dry things! I added lavender because it reminds me of France and well, I had some in my pantry. You can easily omit the lavender and just have delightful lemon cookies.


Lemon-Lavender Madeleines 

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted, plus more for pans
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted (not self-rising)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons total)
  • 1 tsp. culinary lavender buds
  • Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter two madeleine pans; set aside. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl; set aside.
  2. Put eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest and juice in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and thickened, about 5 minutes. Mix in butter and lavender. Using a spatula, fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Let rest 30 minutes.
  3. Pour batter into buttered pans, filling the molds 3/4 full. Bake cookies, rotating pans halfway through, until edges are crisp and golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cookies cool slightly in pans on wire racks. Invert, and unmold. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.
(slightly adapted from Martha Stewart)
Of course, after you make these cookies you will need something to keep them in so they don't get dried out. I have the perfect thing for you! As part of the OXO Blogger Outreach Program, I was offered to host a giveaway of some of their awesome products! I love OXO products and just ask anyone who has been in my kitchen, most of my gadgets have the OXO brand on them. I often suggest them to customers at work at Sur La Table because they are an affordable and well reputable brand. I'm so happy they now have their own section dedicated to their products at Sur La Table. So back to the cookie storage......I'm giving away some of OXO's Good Grips LockTop Containers. I have two sizes: 
Source
The first being a 6.3 cups container that my husband and I have been using to perfectly store homemade ice cream. These containers are BPA Free (a must in our kitchen!), dishwasher safe (however, I never put plastic in the dishwasher, microwave safe, freezer safe, and leakprook because the locking creates an airtight and watertight seal!            
The second size is a 4pc. set of mini containers perfect for dressings, condiments, spices, leftovers (I have some egg whites in one of mine in the fridge).                        
Source
~OXO GOOD GRIPS LOCKTOP CONTAINER GIVEAWAY~

  1. *ONE lucky reader will win the OXO products mentioned above
  1. Leave a comment below answering this question~
 "Have you ever been to the Smithsonion to see Julia Child's Kitchen?
For extra entries you can do the following:
1. Follow me on Twitter: @dancerkitchen
3. Subscribe to A Dancer In The Kitchen by email or RSS reader

Leave a seperate comment for each entry. If you already follow me on any of the above just leave a comment saying you do! You can get up to 4 total entries! The giveaway will end August 29, 2012 at midnight. (US residents only)


*As part of the OXO Blogger Outreach Program I received free products from OXO.
Ciao,
Betsy







Comments

  1. Can't ever pass up entering a kitchen giveaway! :)
    No, I have never been! Didn't even know it existed, but now that I do I would LOVE to see it some day! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is one of my bucket list dreams! AHHHHHHH...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've never made it there but I will one day!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've been to the Smithsonian but the Julia Child kitchen wasn't there yet.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ive not been to the Smithsonion to see Julia Child's Kitchen
    mermont84 at yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I Like A Dancer In The Kitchen on Facebook
    mermont84 at yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. No Julia's kitchen for me...yet!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have yet to visit. sounds really interesting though!
    winntuck at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I follow you on facebook! love that you're doing this! :)
    winn tuck at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I haven't been to the Smithsonian but would love to visit!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I already follow you on Twitter!

    ReplyDelete

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