Madeleine Time!

Hanging out at a Starbucks coffee shop, I typically manage to only take pictures of the bakery items, and rarely eat them, but they have one luxurious, guiltfree snack: madeleines. This winter  I made a batch from scratch, using this recipe. They were delicious, but a tad involved. Last weekend, Giada Di Laurentiis showed a simpler way to make madeleines using a bake mix. These madeleines are made in 10min and baked in 15min. To be honest --- they are addictive! But we are just having one with coffee, right?

• 2 large egg whites or 1/4 cup eggwhite mixture
• 1 cup yellow cake mix (recommended: Betty Crocker Supermoist Butter Cake)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1.5 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest (I used orange zest)
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• Special equipment: 12 (3-inch) nonstick madeleine molds

Put an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a madeleine mold with baking spray (ie. butter and flour spray) liberally and set aside (alternatively, butter madeleine molds liberally with butter and dust with flour).

Batter: In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cake mix, butter, honey, water, orange zest, and almond extract. Beat the ingredients on low speed for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and beat until the batter is smooth, about 2 minutes. Spoon the batter into the prepared molds. Make sure to fill only 2/3 of each mold or less since the madeeines will rise.

Bake until the edges are golden and the center of the madeleines spring back when touched, about 15 to 16 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Using a small rubber spatula, remove the madeleines and arrange, scalloped side up, on a wire rack. Cool for 15 minutes, sprinkle with powder sugar and serve.