This beautifully printed cookbook is full of variations for sweet and savory madeleines. The recipes are easy to pull together from ingredients in a normal pantry - most require just butter, sugar, flour, salt, baking powder and a flavoring agent of some kind. I made mine in one bowl. A madeleine pan of some kind is needed to create the traditional shell shape but they are easily found.

I will admit that the directions were lacking in one area - and I wondered about it as I followed them to completion but I always follow directions exactly as written when I'm reviewing a cookbook - they said to spray the madeleine pan with cooking spray. Well, I recommend that you butter and flour your pan. The first batch I made using the cooking spray stuck to my pans. And they are non-stick pans. I am also a very experienced baker. Also the recipes do not call for salt - they really need a little salt so I have added some.

That little disaster aside - don't worry, we ate the broken cookies and they were delicious - I then went with my instincts and used butter and flour. That batch came out beautifully. I'm also looking forward to trying several of the different recipes for both sweet and savory. Despite the misstep with the pan instructions the recipes were easy to follow and the cookies that I made were delicious. ( )