23 May 2014

Pink praline madeleines


I've been feeling down and exhausted for the past few weeks. Don't ask me why, I don't even know myself. I think that's part of the joys of being a woman. Sometimes, strong feelings coming from nowhere lend on us and we just need to deal with them (I know you ladies understand what I'm talking about, don't you? Please tell me yes, or I think I might start crying now!)

Usually, whenever I feel tired or down, the easy things that make me feel better are baking, eating, and shopping. On my own. 
Like Men withdraw to their caves (thank you Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and your ever so useful metaphors), I need to withdraw to my kitchen and wander in the aisles of TK Maxx on my own for hours. 
So that's settled, next week I'm taking a week to myself. While The Man will be busy at work, I'll be tuning to Magic fm, baking bread, making cakes, and going shopping.
If that doesn't do any good to my diet or my wallet, I'm sure I'll come back to work fit and ready for action the following Monday!




Pink praline Madeleines 


This is not a purist French recipe, which usually doesn't include honey and doe include lemon, but I think I like this one better. The honey gives a denser texture to the madeleines, giving them a slight "financier" style. (It's getting too complicated, isn't it?) Anyway, these are gorgious and dead easy to prepare. 
I added little crushed Pink praline from Lyon (France), but they are delicious plain as well.



Ingredients 
225g unsalted butter, melted
250g plain flour
250g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract
3 free-range eggs
2 tbsp runny honey
1 small handful pink praline from Lyon, coarsely crushed
  

Make the madeleines
1/ Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter and flour a madeleine tin or silicone mould.

2/ Place the flour and caster sugar into a bowl and add the vanilla extract, eggs, honey and melted butter. Stir well

3/ Fill the madeleine tin/moulds almost to the top and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden-brown and springy to the touch. Dust with the remaining caster sugar.



15 May 2014

My "Best of Spring" Recipes

As I'm celebrating my 32nd Birthday, my blog Pauline à la crème anglaise is celebrating its second anniversary. It feels like a good opportunity to look back at the past two years and give you a shortcut to some of my favourite recipes so far. 

This week's theme is  
Spring Recipes!

Spring is all about getting excited about the first pic-nics, baking fruity cakes and sharing food. Below you'll find a few recipes to discover or re-discover, that I feel like making these days.