Mad About Madeleines: Deuxieme Partie

Well, darlings, it's amazing what one can accomplish given a rainy afternoon and sufficient motivation. After only five batches of baked goodies, I am pleased to announce a victory in the guerre des madeleines!

I had already learned several important lessons when adapting my traditional recipe for my Mad About Madeleines tests. I discovered that Xanthan gum was necessary for textural success, but that too much was a death knell for the final product. I also concluded that there was too much flour in the original version, which is why I think corn-bread grittiness was such an issue. I have decided, therefore, that in a recipe such as this, g/f baking flour cannot be substituted one-for-one for the traditional variety (probably for similar reasons that g/f pasta amounts must be reduced) and that judging the correct amounts will involve a certain amount of trial and error on an individual basis. The general principle, however, is 'less is more.' For these latest experiments, I used a new brand of g/f flour (bought in one-pound bags from my favorite New Jersey nut shop), but I am unconvinced that this was related to my final success, since the constituent ingredients were identical to those used by Bob in his Red Mill.

I have one final bromide for this sort of baking: sift! sift! and sift again!

What follows is a successful gluten-free recipe that makes extremely tasty little cakes with excellent texture (springy but not spongy); good flavour (buttery with no metallic aftertaste); and sufficient physical attractiveness (even browning and a crust that doesn't stick to the pan) for company. The Kid Squid, for whom taste is paramamount, declared them 'improved' and 'not bad' before scarfing (at last count) four of them while they were still warm. High praise, indeed.

Gluten-Free Madeleines

• 3 eggs
• splash vanilla
• 5 oz sugar
• 5 oz g/f all-purpose baking flour (I sifted mine three times)
• scant 1/8 tsp. Xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 6 oz melted butter
• a bit of grated lemon or orange zest
• powdered sugar, if you like that sort of thing

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F and brush some of the melted butter into your tins (madeleine tins, if you've got them, otherwise I don't see why mini-muffin tins wouldn't work). Beat the eggs until foamy, then add the vanilla and sugar. Continue beating until the mixture is pale and thick and does the ribbon thing. I use my stand mixer so I can walk away and catch up on Facebook while this is happening, but presumably you could do it by hand, like Escoffier, if you so desired.

Sift the flour (again!) together with the Xanthan gum, baking powder and salt. Divide the dry goods into two or three batches and fold into the sugar and egg mixture. Finally, stir in the melted butter and grated zest.

Spoon into your tins, filling them about 3/4 of the way up (I got about 24 from my last batch) . Bake for 15 minutes or until they spring back when you poke 'em. Let them cool in their tins for a few minutes before flipping them onto a cooling rack. The Kid Squid likes them best when they have a bit of powdered sugar shaken over their scalloped tops - and who am I to argue?

Triomphe!