Cinnamon madeleines with Marsala glaze and Jennifer Aniston

Weeks ago my husband and I were trying to find something good on TV and since there was nothing we ended up watching 10 minutes or so of Wanderlust – I say 10 minutes or so because it was all we could stand of such a lousy movie. We began talking about Jennifer Aniston’s movies, how awful they usually are and we wondered why she makes such poor role choices.

Days after that, I heard about Cake and all the buzz it’d generated, and then a Golden Globe and a SAG Award nominations became a reality, and for what I have seen and read about the movie an Oscar nomination is bound to happen.

In Jen’s defense, I watched The Good Girl back in the day and thought she was good in it – I even thought that from that moment on she would take that route when choosing roles to play, but unfortunately that never happened. She’s not part of my favorite actresses list, but I have always felt she had more to offer.

When I saw these cinnamon madeleines on the Telegraph website I thought they would be a nice addition to my Christmas series, but since I meant to turn them into a gift to a friend they needed something more – they were too plain, a Jennifer Aniston kind of madeleine, let’s say. I thought a glaze would make them extra special and because it’s Christmas a bit of alcohol wouldn’t hurt so I made a Marsala glaze for them, and it paired beautifully with the cinnamon flavor – the madeleines became a Jennifer Aniston post-Cake kind of madeleine. ;)

Cinnamon madeleines with Marsala glaze
slightly adapted from here

Madeleines:
70g unsalted butter, melted and cooled + a bit extra for greasing
2 eggs, room temperature
85g granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
85g all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

Glaze:
½ cup (70g) icing sugar
2 teaspoons Marsala wine
water, if necessary

Madeleines: using an electric mixer, beat the eggs until pale and foamy and tripled in volume. Slowly add the sugar in a stream while continuing to whisk until it thickens. Whisk in the vanilla. Gently fold in the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon – try not to lose any of the air from the eggs. Fold in the butter. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20-hole madeleine pan (each cavity holds ½ tablespoon of batter) with melted butter and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Fill each madeleine cup ¾ of the way up with the batter, then bake for about 10 minutes or until risen and golden. Remove from the pan immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Glaze: sift the icing sugar into a small bowl. Gradually add the Marsala and stir until you get a drizzable consistency (add water if necessary). Drizzle over cooled madeleines and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

Makes about 50