Calling all MeFi bakers - help me with my nostalgic baking

April 1, 2014 3:44 AM

I'd like to concoct a particular treat of my youth, squat, plump little cakes called "petites madeleines," which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell, and are especially tasty with lime-blossom tea.

It is a labour in vain to attempt to recapture it: all the efforts of our intellect must prove futile. The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object (in the sensation which that material object will give us) of which we have no inkling. And it depends on chance whether or not we come upon this object before we ourselves must die. But perhaps you can assist with recipes?

posted by le narrateur to Food & Drink around (6 answers total)

I think you're going to have to give us a bit more context.
posted by tzikeh at 10:16 PM on March 31, 2014 [34 favorites]

7 volumes or about 1,200,000 words would about do it.
posted by jokeefe at 10:39 PM on March 31, 2014 [2 favorites]

I find I bake best when I'm well rested--get into a habit where you go to bed early.
posted by ifjuly at 2:41 AM on April 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Do you have access to the Combray Bakes community cookbook? You can't miss it, it's the thickest cookbook out there.
posted by ldthomps at 10:49 AM on April 1, 2014

Why not ask M. Swann how he would do it?
posted by Nerd of the North at 2:27 PM on April 1, 2014

Frankly, you need to stop overthinking the past and just move on with your life. These childhood memories may be interesting to you, but I guarantee you'll never find anyone else to share your obsession. Have you considered therapy? That might cure you of your tendency to overshare.
posted by verstegan at 12:31 AM on April 7, 2014