Sometimes the story on the page sustains us, and sometimes, well, we need funfetti. Yes, I did take the ever classy, oh-so-french madeleine cookie and white trash it up a bit with an entire bottle of star sprinkles thrown into the batter, and it was so good. Normally, I don't like to clutter my kitchen cabinets with gadgets and pans that only have one task, so buying a cookie pan that would only be used to make one specific type of cookie didn't appeal to me. However, the key to making the classic french madeleines is a madeleine pan. Most madeleines start with a base of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter, but from there, they are quite versatile. You could add chocolate chips, orange zest, dried fruit, whatever you want.

Eating French cookies got us in the mood for everyone's favorite red-headed frenchie, Madeline! I have loved Ludwig Bemelmans' stories about Madeline for as long as I can remember. We think nothing of reading about a strong, independent female character today, but Madeline was doing her own thing long before it was the norm. I found this volume of every Madeline book published into one collection a couple of years ago. It's a treasure!

Funfetti Madeleines

one cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1 stick butter
one bottle colorful sprinkles (optional)

combine flour and baking powder in a bowl.
beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla until thick (this takes a couple minutes.)
fold flour mixture in to egg mixture.
melt butter and add to batter. put batter in the refrigerator for about an hour. stir in sprinkles.
preheat oven to 325 degrees. butter the madeleine pan. fill molds of pan with batter.
bake for 10 minutes or until golden.