I’ve been eating and writing about savory scones and other pastries for a while now and word seems to have gotten out.  I helped analytic marketeer L out with her mom’s Etsy site (plug: not too late for holiday shopping) and was rewarded with not scones (or muffins as has sometimes been the case) but madeleines.  Madeleines?  Proust’s mind-altering drug of choice?  Yes, and no.  L’s madeleines were made with Roquefort cheese, pears and walnuts for an earthy flavor and a mix of textures from the almost fluffy dough to the crunchy nut bits.  A far cry from what Proust had to soften up with tea.

I found a recipe for walnut pear blue cheese madeleines that might be similar at Five Spice Duck, so of course I have to include it here.  A few days later, I found sweet madeleines in a handy 3-pack at Starbucks.  Very buttery, not in any need of tea-soaking at all, but I did dip them in my extra hot double tall soy mocha.

Following the random walk a step further, here’s a bit from Salon that questions how much Proust knew about madeleines and how much we really know about the madeleines of his day.

Perhaps years from now a bite of something might bring memories of today flooding back.  The late George Carlin posited that “vuja de” would be “the feeling that you’ve never been there before.”  I’m thinking maybe it could also be the making of a memory that will one day come roaring back at a trigger yet unknown.  I look forward to many savory snacks from now until then.