Dessert Disaster

I've been wanting to make Madeleines since August, but I just finally found a recipe and purchased a Madeleine pan. I went to William Sonoma and bought a nice quality non-stick pan. In retrospect, I was a little too excited (see picture below).

 The instructions were very specific. I had to fold the batter in a certain way, I had to let the batter rest for a period of time before baking. I also had to take a drop of the wet mixture (eggs, vanilla, etc.) and drop it into the dry mixture. Then right after, I had to put the whole dry mixture right back into the wet mixture, an odd step, which I did, but did not fully understand. I also had to knead the butter with a wooden spoon until it was the texture of mayonaise.

  Here I am putting them into the oven. (Way too optimistically)

Uh Oh...they're not supposed to be that big...

 Holy Crap! They're like the French Madeline Alps!!

Horrible.

After three batches, I finally got 3 single cookies to come out looking the way they are supposed to. I had to turn the oven down about 15 degrees, butter the cookie tray (even though it's non-stick) and put about a quarter of the batter in each cookie mold. They tasted like "really good corn muffins," which is the worst compliment you can get after trying to make a famously delicate tea cookie. However, I'm not discouraged. As soon as I can build up  my depleted butter and egg reserves, I will be at it again until I can make a Madeleine that Proust himself would be proud of.