Gourmet Madeleine Cookies

Delicious and soft French cookies. The recipe is from Bon Appetit Magazine (January 2000). "This cookie launched a thousand memories — and a literary masterpiece — for Marcel Proust. The group enjoys madeleines with tea, just as the narrator did in Swann’s Way." Uses a special madeleine pan (a metal mold with scallop-shaped indentations, sold at cookware stores).

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Yields: 20 cookies

Ingredients

• 2  large eggs
• 2⁄3 cup sugar
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  grated lemon peel
• 1  pinch salt
• 1  cup all-purpose flour
• 10  tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
•  powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F Generously butter and flour pan for large madeleines (about 3x1 1/4 inches).
2. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and 2/3 cup sugar in large bowl just to blend. Beat in vanilla, lemon peel and salt. Add flour; beat just until blended. Gradually add cooled melted butter in steady stream, beating just until blended.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon batter into each indentation in pan. Bake until puffed and brown, about 10-16 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Gently remove from pan. Repeat process, buttering and flouring pan before each batch. (Can be made 1 day ahead.).
4. Dust cookies with powdered sugar.