Celebrating Julia Child: Madeleines

One hundred years ago, on August 15, 1912, Julia Carolyn McWilliams was born in Pasadena, California.  Baby Julia would grow up to be Julia Child, whose professional life would be dedicated to cuisine.  With the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, she successfully brought the wonder of French cuisine to the United States.  The first televised cooking series, The French Chef, premiered in 1963 and transformed Julia into America’s fist celebrity chef.

To honor Julia’s centennial, I baked madeleines (pronounced mad-lens).  Madeleines are small, shell-shaped cakes flavored with vanilla and a hint of lemon.  Uncomplicated and adorned with a sprinkle of confectioners’ sugar, madeleines are a tribute to the simple flavors of classic French cuisine.

These madeleines are adapted from the Traditional Madeleine recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours.  Dorie Greenspan is a great cookbook author, and, coincidentally, authored Baking with Julia–the cookbook of recipes featured on the PBS series of the same name.

See the recipe, after the jump.

Fifty Shades of Grey…or Red…or Purple: Ombre Sugar Cookies

When I make a batch of cookie dough, I often have a little bit left over.  With the extra dough, I usually make a few random shapes to decorate when I have free time.  Un-iced, the cookies store very well in the freezer.  When I saw SweetAmb’s ombre cookie tutorial, I knew I wanted to try to make some ombre-style cookies, but in my own way, using a few stashed cookies from the freezer.

Instead of varied shades of icing, I decided to make an ombre effect using colored sugars.  I love the effect, especially on a round cookie!

A brief tutorial, after the jump.

It’s a Nice Day for a White Wedding Dress: Heart-Shaped Wedding Dress and Tuxedo Cookies

Despite the fact that I own upwards of 500 cookie cutters, when I decided to make wedding-themed cookies for an engagement party I decided to forgo the wedding cake and dress cutters and opt for the simple heart shape.  I had initially wanted to use my tuxedo and wedding dress stencils, but the cutter made a cookie larger than I would have liked.  I opted instead to pipe the design myself.

While the shape is simple, the possibilities for designs are endless.

Wedding party conga line!

View the entire edible collection, with some step-by-step instructions, below.