grapefruit rose madeleines

Maybe I’m putting too much in one place. This post should cover blogging 101 assignments 3&4, as well as a recipe to submit to Fiesta Friday chez Novice Gardener!

Dear Ideal Reader, or so states assignment #4.

Yes, I blog for myself. But I also like the idea of blogging with someone else in mind.

However, when I heard the term ideal reader, nobody in particular came up, not even any defining characteristics. I realize this is because, quite simply, my ideal reader is probably you.

What I really want is for you to be interested (even only mildly) in what it is that I’ve baked, or even in what I’m writing (as unlikely as that may be).

It doesn’t matter whether or not baking is something you do at all just so long as perhaps I make you somewhat hungry or moderately inspired to bake something yourself. Or buy something. Or something like that. (Or nothing really at all; I do have low standards).

Assignment #3 was to follow five other bloggers. Here are some people that I’ve recently begun following, who I’m particularly excited about (though there are so many more!)

1. From-the-ground-up blog: Boonie Adjacent – The tagline is “turning home into a homestead, one day at a time.” Well written posts on a number of interesting projects, including small scale agriculture and fermentation (!) such as miso.
2. Science-y blog: Picture It – Somehow affiliated with the chemistry department at the University of Bristol, there’s quite a bit on food chemistry–really interesting and fun to read!
3. Baking blog(s) (How could I choose just 1??):
   1. Beslington of Baker St – A bit of a newer blog, I’m excited to see what other “classic” baked goods he turns out, such as his Victoria sponge…
   2. Morning Brew and Tea – So many delicious things that I’d like to try to make! A lovely baking blog with nice photos and interesting recipes.
   3. foodlikecake – I love cake. So, enough said. But this blog is also simple and sweet and straightforwards.
4. Photo blog: Chemistry – While there are only a couple posts at the moment, this looks to be very clearly and conscientiously designed, and the photos, beautiful.
5. Culture blog: Hallyu Stranger – Again, only a couple posts so far, however this blog on her exploration of Korean culture has so far shown itself to be very thoughtful.

And now, onto the recipe…

I’ve still yet to make successful madeleines.

Or at least I think so…I’ve never had a madeleine made by anyone other than myself (there may be a deficit of good and affordable bakeries where I live), and from what I’ve heard, madeleines are, like, divine?! Amazing!?! Life changing?!?!!!

These are not quite.

To be fair, they are not bad either though.

Recipe notes

I think the flavour inspiration came from a soap–at least that’s what it sounds like to me, but all I ended up with was the bitterness of the grapefruit instead of its floral notes. Perhaps rubbing the zest in sugar would have helped a bit?

It’s likely just our oven, but I found a higher temperature was better as I prefer more browning.

Lastly, these madeleines did not take on the distinctive shape with the hump in the middle and sharp edges. Instead they rose in a sort of sloppy, non-committal manner, giving them the atmosphere of a cake forced into a madeleine’s clothes. Part of the blame could possibly be attributed to the leavener in the original recipe. The original recipe uses some baking powder, 1/2 tsp, which I, perhaps not very wisely, had decided to eliminate.

A final note: the recipe was intended for 12 madeleines. I made 16 slightly smaller ones due to the pan I have.

Grapefruit rose madeleines: Adapted slightly from Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel’s Bouchon Bakery.