During the holidays, you may have enjoyed scallops, a delicacy that regularly appears on Christmas menus. These shells, which served as pretty containers, still have other uses. They can come in handy if you're out of baking molds and have a sudden craving for madeleines.
Scallops instead of mussels
Madeleines evoke the taste of childhood and tender memories of Grandma's house. They are the quintessential grandmother 's biscuit. The one you dip in a glass of milk (dairy or plant-based) and eat until you have to unbutton your jeans. It's a timeless treat that pairs perfectly with hot chocolate or coffee. Nostalgic, indulgent, and generous, it knows just how to please our taste buds. Once you start eating a pile of madeleines, it's impossible to stop at just one.
Making madeleines isn't too complicated, provided you have the right equipment. However, the madeleine pan is rarely on the list of kitchen essentials when moving into a new place. And settling for store-bought madeleines, which are merely pale imitations of the original recipe, is out of the question.
Content creator @roxane.tardy has found an alternative to the traditional mold: scallop shells (emptied and washed, of course). This culinary shell, often thrown away as food waste or recycled into jewelry holders after serving at holiday meals , replicates the typical shape of madeleines. Instead of small madeleines, she gets ultra-photogenic and very appetizing XXL cookies.
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The secret to perfectly formed madeleines
Using seashells from the sea and its salty landscapes to make madeleines is a clever and profoundly poetic gesture. The shell leaves its imprint on the batter, just as it does on wet sand. The ridges of this marine shell stand out after baking, giving the illusion of a freshly caught crustacean. These are lines Baudelaire himself might have penned. Enough with the prose; what interests us here is how to achieve this beautiful, airy hump in a container not at all designed for making madeleines.
Content creator @roxane.tardy, known for matching her outfits to her culinary creations, reveals the secret behind the "puffed-up" effect so characteristic of madeleines. She places the batter in a piping bag and chills it for about thirty minutes. The idea is to create a thermal shock with the oven's heat. This is what gives madeleines their appealing domed shape.
These other tips if you don't have a mold
Using scallop shells means repurposing an object destined for the trash and giving it a second life. This approach perfectly aligns with the anti-waste and creative ethos so valued by an entire generation. However, not everyone has empty shells in their cupboards, and sometimes you have to make do with what you have. This is a situation well known to anyone who has lived in student accommodation and experimented with countless culinary creations.
First, you can repurpose muffin tins. This is the most common and reliable option. The shape will be different, rounder, but the texture will remain that of a true madeleine. Tartlet tins are also good choices. Their slightly fluted base gives an elegant, almost pastry-like finish. The madeleines bake evenly in them and retain a nice thickness. Admittedly, the madeleine undergoes a little visual transformation, but if you close your eyes, you'll feel like you've stepped back twenty years, watching a cartoon at 4 p.m.
Baked in shells, madeleines gain an air of elegance, rivaling the pastries of luxury hotels. But what truly stands out is the comforting flavor of the madeleine. Biting into their soft, chewy interior is like traveling back in time, reliving childhood memories. And that's a feeling Instagram simply can't capture.
