l.c.k.Cafe: Chocolate Dipped Madeleine's

YOLO!! The Year Of Lindsay Ohyeah, is off to a great start! Now, I know claiming an entire year for myself probably sounds a little (okay maybe a lot) narcissistic, but I swear it’s not all about me and everyone can share in the fun. Going into 2014, I knew this was going to be the last 6 months of my 20’s and the first 6 months of my 30’s and I wanted shake things up and give myself an excuse of live life to the fullest and celebrate where I have been, what I have learned and the exciting surprises yet to come – something everyone should allow themselves to do. As most of my close friends know, I tend to throw a lot of myself into work, and this is a great way to give myself a break and ensure I find that work/life balance.

The Rules:

· At a minimum, doing on thing/event per month to celebrate in the year of Lindsay

· Try to make sure the thing/event is something new – something I haven’t done before

So Far:

· January: Happy hour at Lone Wolf – new bar on Randolph!

· February: Under contract on my first place!

· February: Visited my college roommate to meet her 1st baby Mark – such a cutie and a big flirt at 6 months!

So, if anyone has fun ideas or wants to be included in the YOLO events, let me know!

Anyways, back to cooking. A few weeks back Quaker had another baking contest which I had entered myself in, however, I came down with a horrible flu that knocked me on my bum for two weeks (not a YOLO event!) . Because of this, I figured my co-workers would not want me making food for them to eat while I was one big walking germ and pulled out of the contest. Now that I am back on my feet, I wanted to go ahead and see how this recipe would turn out.

As you will see in the pictures, I haven’t mastered the art of melting chocolate – I think I am a bit too impatient and put the heat up too high making it clumpy. However, chocolate is chocolate, and even though it doesn’t look super pretty, it tastes just as good.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour, all purpose

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 bag Nestle Milk Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375F. In a medium bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) beat the eggs with the salt together until foamy. While the egg mixture is beating, slowly add the sugar. Mix on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes mixture should be a pale yellow color and quite fluffy. Add in the vanilla and mix well.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a spatula for the following steps:

Fold in the four and butter, alternate pour a little of each and fold the batter until all of the flour and butter have been used. Pour the batter into each mold of the Madeleine pan, about 1.5 tablespoons worth of batter for each one. (about 3/4 full)

Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until until the madeleines are golden and spongy. Flip baked Madeleines onto a cooling rack and let cool. After the Madeleines are cooled, melt the chocolate on low heat (make sure you don’t burn it).

Dip the tip of the Madeleine into the chocolate, set onto a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Let chocolate harden.