Magdalena

A few years ago now – I was lucky enough to spend 7 weeks traveling around Spain. I stayed with lovely old friends in Toledo about one hour south of Madrid and used them as a base from which to travel the country right up north as far as Sans Sebastian and way down south as far as Granada and pretty well all around the perimeter of the country – what an amazing journey!

Of course being the foodie that I am – I was in heaven and could quite easily eat everyday little morsels of delicious tapas washed down by lots of lovely vino blanco and cervesa.

Lucky for me, I was mainly backpacking around – so all that walking in the hot summer sun carrying my massive backpack – helped me walk off my indulgence.

On one of my first mornings in Toledo my lovely friend Marisa woke me for El desayuno with fresh café con leche and la Magdalena. What a treat! Magdalena or madeleine’s as they are also known are a dainty cup cake recognizable by their distinctive pointed shape. They are traditionally eaten in the morning and are bought in big bags from the supermercado like we might buy crumpets or muffins. Once I got over my momentary shock at eating cake for breakfast – I decided that this was pretty good really and la Magdalena became a definite breakfast staple.

I’ve never forgotten them….I found some here in Melbourne a few years ago at the Mediterranean Wholesalers in Sydney Rd, Brunswick and was so excited…it was short lived though and they stopped stocking them – probably a good thing knowing me! If you’re tempted as a week-end treat for the kids – here is a recipe to make your own……

La Magdalena

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
100 grams unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups unbleached white flour
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 200 Celsius
Beat eggs, butter and sugar until very creamy and light
combine salt, baking powder and flour and stir into batter
Add milk and beat well again
Spoon into patty pans
Sprinkle granulated sugar over each
Bake 15-20 minutes

Makes 18. YUM!