Honey-Tonka Madeleines with White Chocolate Dip
Mar 01, 2016
I know it's been a while since I posted last time, but these past couple weeks have been nothing short of crazy.
Now that things have been back to normal I'm also back to the kitchen :)
A few days ago, I drove all the way from Toronto to NYC to spend some time with family and friends. To be honest, I'm not quite sure I would drive there again. But since I was already there, I went to check out a bunch of cool pastry shops like Aux Merveilleux de Fred (the same one I had at the corner of my first house in Paris) and Dominique Ansel's Bakery.
I arrived at Dominique Ansel's Bakery quite late on a sunny, warm Saturday afternoon, so it was more than obvious that their Cronuts were sold out. I came back for it later in another day, but since I was staying there in line anyway, I decided to try their Kouign Amann and their Madeleines, which became the inspiration for this recipe.
Madeleines were not exactly the thing that used to excite me the most during my pastry classes. The ones I did at school were so terrible that I didn't even bothered to take pictures of them after class (they tasted deliciously, though).
After coming back to France for the second time, I decided to give it a try again a couple times and I finally could understand the graciousness and delicacy this tea cake has.
They are usually lemon-flavored which is delicious, but boring. So I decided to change it a little bit and make it a little more interesting.
I had some tonka beans sitting in my pantry, and I thought it would pair well with honey and the white chocolate. It most certainly did! They add a very subtle flavor, which is enough to notice but not enough to overpower it. The white chocolate dip add some crunchiness to a naturally soft treat, but it also brings sweetness to the game, balancing well all the flavors and making it irresistible.
This recipe is good for any size of Madeleines, but I strongly recommend you to make the smallest ones you can make. Not just because it's more cute this way, but also because it's absolutely impossible to eat just one of them. This will make you feel less guilty to come back to your pot again for "just another one".
