Madeleines..... with a Southeast Asian twist.

It's hard to  believe that I've not tasted madeleines until recently. I've always been tempted to buy some from the Delifrance express outlet everytime I drop by the petrol station. But the price tag just turned me off! I thought it couldn't be so difficult to bake them. Hence the urge to bake them & the start of the search for the madeleine pan. But I realized that madeleine pan is quite pricy.... maybe that's partly why madeleines are expensive. I was quite reluctant to spend so much for something that I wasn't sure if I was going to use more than once. So I shelved the idea of buying the pan & baking madeleines. 

Then, recently, when my cousin visited my father at the hospital, she brought some madeleines! And guess where she bought them from... yes, Delifrance! I love them. They were delicious! I decided that I would definitely want to bake some myself. I'm resigned to the fact I have  to spend quite a bit on the pan. So two weeks ago, I went to Sun Lik & when I saw the moulds, I decided to buy them. No more buts....

Instead of  a regular madeleine, my maiden madeleine is Coconut Gula Melaka Madeleine, a recipe by Chef Yamashita whose book I just bought on Friday. The madelines are so delicious!! You must try this recipe if you like madeleines & especially if you already have the pan.

Coconut Gula Melaka Madeleines
Recipe by Chef Yamashita Masataka from Tanoshii, Joy of Making Japanese-style Cake and Desserts.

Ingredients:
120g pastry flour (aka Top flour)
2g baking powder - I used double-acting.
15g almond powder
5g cornflour
7g milk powder
35g desiccated coconut
17g honey
46g heavy cream
46g salted butter
46g unsalted butter
70g gula melaka (palm sugar), roughly chopped - I sliced thinly.
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
80g brown sugar
melted unsalted butter for greasing mould

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Lightly grease a madeleine mould with melted butter. Sift together pastry flour, baking powder,almond powder, cornflour & milk powder. Whisk in desiccated coconut. Set aside.
2. Combine honey, heavy cream, both types of butter & gula melaka in a saucepan over medium  heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir until butter & sugar are melted & mixture reachers 80deg C. Set aside. (I also strained the mixture twice to remove debris usually found in the gula Melaka.)
3. Using a handheld mixer, whisk eggs, egg yolks & brown sugar at high speed for 3 minutes until mixture doubles in volume & is pale. Using a rubber spatula, fold in dry ingredients.
4. Lastly, fold in warm butter mixture. Scrape base & sides of bowl thoroughly. Pour batter into prepared mould & bake for 20-25 minutes or until top of cakes are golden brown.
5. Remove from oven. Unmould cakes & leave on a wire rack to cool before serving or storing. These cakes will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Makes about 20 madeleines.

Notes:

1. According to Chef Yamashita, pastry flour is also known as top flour & is similar to cake flour or Hong Kong flour. They have low protein content, hence they produce light-textured cakes & cookies.
2. I used the gula Melaka imported from Indonesia. It's dark brown in colour & when left in room temperature for a long period of time, it will turn very soft & melt. It's also more flavourful than the hard & light-coloured ones. It's also more expensive. I often buy mine from Geylang Serai market. Recently, I bought it from Larkin market in JB.