Coffee With Marcel

Spending time with friends, sipping coffee or tea, is a great way to relax. And such an occasion deserves a little something special.

Try madeleines--small, feather-light, spongy cakes that are eaten like cookies. They’re easy to make and have an allure all their own. They’re great with a hot beverage.

Madeleines are baked in special pans with 12 scallop-shell indentations; the finished cakes take the form of the shell.

Marcel Proust immortalized the madeleine in his landmark novel “Remembrance of Things Past” when he wrote, “I raised to my lips a spoonful of the cake ... a shudder ran through my whole body and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place.”

Maple Pecan Madeleines

Active Work Time: 25 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 55 minutes

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted, plus more for greasing

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup minced pecans

1 cup cake flour, plus more for preparing molds

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon powdered sugar, pressed through fine sieve

* Combine butter and granulated sugar in bowl of electric mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time. Beat until creamy. Add maple syrup and extract. Mix well. Add baking powder, pecans, flour and salt. Mix until just combined, scraping down sides of bowl. Batter can be used immediately or refrigerated overnight.

* Generously grease madeleine molds including rim around each mold, then dust with flour, tapping out excess. Use tablespoon-size measure to transfer batter into each mold; it should be three-quarters full. If baking separate batches, batter can be kept at room temperature.

* Bake at 400 degrees until edges are browned and domed tops spring back when pressed lightly in center, about 10 minutes (30 to 60 seconds longer if batter was chilled). Do not overbake. Spread clean towel on counter. Remove pan from oven, immediately hold it by opposite edges, turn it over and tap it on towel until madeleines fall out. Transfer madeleines to rack to cool. For batches, repeat preparation of pan (wash it first) and bake remaining batter. (Can be served immediately or made ahead and stored at room temperature for 1 day in an airtight container or frozen 1 month wrapped airtight.) To serve, lightly sprinkle shell-side of room temperature (or warm-from-the-oven) madeleines with powdered sugar.

36 madeleines. Each madeleine: 81 calories; 67 mg sodium; 28 mg cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.03 gram fiber.

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Provencal tablecloth from Lavender Blue, Los Angeles, and Jordano’s, Santa Barbara and Montecito.