We were excited to be part of the #TakeTasteFurther cookery sessions in the AEG kitchen. Kathy from Gluts and Gluttony led the session to make madeleines in just thirty minutes. Now not only does that seem a tall order, but as well as making them herself she was directing at least fifteen other pairs of cooks, and she had no idea of their cooking abilities, and to top that we also made a cardamom butterscotch sauce while we had some spare time. Seriously, it was impressive - and so were the results.
1. A silicone madeleine tray on our workbench was a big clue for what we were making.
3. With MOH melting butter, I could get my hands on the AEG freestanding mixer, which I would happily have in my kitchen. Eggs and sugar went in and took no time at all to beat.
5. First we added flour and ground almonds to the eggs and sugar, along with some orange zest, and carefully folded this in.
7. We piped the mixture into the madeleine tray. In all honesty this was the messiest bit, with a few "exploding" piping bags around the room. MOH, the baking perfectionist, wanted to wipe the dribbles but it was not to be!
9. While we waited for this to boil, I explored the other ingredients on the bench - cardamom, chopped pistachios and more butter.
11. And still the water bubbled, until the sugar turned brown - and that's when you need to watch carefully, because it'll turn quickly.
13. And before we knew it, our madeleines were back again, cooked and looking lovely.
2. We started by melting butter, in fact you might have noticed I delegated that to MOH.
4. While my eggs and sugar were getting fluffy, I still had time to direct MOH, and take some pictures too. Here's a squeeze of orange juice going into the butter he melted.
6. Then the orange juice and melted butter were also gently folded into the mixture. You'll notice MOH is working in these photos too.
8. With the madeleines cooking, it was time to make the butterscotch sauce. We were both keen to see how this was done, as MOH had tried this at home, not altogether successfully. So water and sugar went into the saucepan...
10. In preparation for decorating the madeleines I melted some chocolate slowly in a saucepan. At home I use the microwave...
12. Then MOH whisked in the butter, and then added the cream and cardamom and voilà, cardamom butterscotch sauce! Two tubs of it.
14. With a short amount of time to decorate, we went modern, with dribbles of chocolate and sprinkles of pistachios.
And the final result, was some very moreish orange, pistachio and chocolate madeleines with cardamom butterscotch sauce. I'd never have thought it would be *that* easy to make them, but it was. And now I need a silicone madeleine tray of my own, so I can make plenty more!
With madeleines made in record time, we left the kitchen and tried them out while planning our route through the rest of the show. Look out for more posts from the show soon.
* This is a collaborative post, and with thanks to AEG and Kathy from Gluts & Gluttony, as usual views are my own.