La Cure Gourmande Madelines

I look like a delicious yellow submarine

The Attraction

Who doesn't love a good Madeline? Let's try one at the "local" bakery 

The Review:
I'm usually reluctant to review snacks that are so "local". Local may not be quite the right word as there are several La Cure Gourmande stories internationally in places like Asia, Europe and the UAE, but local in the sense that there is only one store currently in the US, but I figure with so many readers internationally, it would be OK.

Madelines are delicious. In case you never had one, they are these French sponge cakes. Well, just go here to find out more. To oversimplify, they are sort of like a less coarse cornbread, but lighter or like a small pound cake. Well, anyway, there's a place not too far from where I work (La Cure Gourmande) that offers a wide-variety of Madelines, from caramel, to pistachio with apricot filling, to chocolate, but for the sake of this review, I'm focusing on the original...even though those others sound tasty as well.

Cornbread anyone? 

What's neat about the way La Cure Gourmande presents their Madelines is that they are in these glass partitioned bins (see here), which makes them so accessible and tempting to grab a basket-full of each flavor. It also makes them seem not that expensive, when in actuality, they were $1.50 a piece. One won't break the bank, but 5 of these will get you a lunch somewhere. OK, so I may have grabbed a basket-full myself, but that's not the point.

The signature "Madeline" shell shape

When you first open the wrapper on one of these Madelines, you can smell some of that sweetness and butter richness inviting you to take a bite. In my hand, they feel spongy and moist. All good things. I flip the cookie over to see the signature shell shape these are know for. All systems go, only thing left to do is take a bite. I indulge and the bite is soft, just like a piece of cake. The flavor is much the same as the smell; sweet and buttery, but within reason. I can see why Madelines are so popular now.


The Sweet:
Moist, flavorful and light.

The Bitter:
They are Madelines! It's hard to mess this up. Even when it's not great, it's usually still pretty good.

I told you I look like cornbread

Conclusion:
Even though I said I'm focusing in on the original Madeline from La Cure Gourmande, the real draw there are the various flavor variations of their Madelines. Their interpretation of the Madeline is true to form, so as that for a base to draw from, I can only imagine the other flavors they offer will be tasty as well.  With that in mind, be sure to either avoid picking up a basket, as it will quickly get filled or just embrace your inner-foodie and ask if they have shopping carts, cause a basket ain't going to do it.

Video of the Week

I can barely ride a bicycle straight, forget a unicycle in the sky!

This is more like a magic trick. After watching these guys juggle, ride a unicycle and just hang from an old smoke stack, I bet I can make you hands sweat. I'm not sure why these guys would do this. I have yet to be this bored in my life.