I had my learner's test today, and now i'm qualified to drive on the road! With someone sitting beside me! And an L sign on the car! But still!

I'm trying to be excited about this, but I'm actually quite nervous. I have a tendency to zone out every few minutes, and my sense of scale and proportion are questionable- I can NEVER tell if a container is the right size to hold a certain amount of leftovers. Does anyone else have that problem?

Besides my daily dance with death on the simulator (hehe) life has been quiet and peaceful lately. And i know this is the calm before the storm because my sisters and their families get here this week and it's going to be blissfully chaotic for the rest of the year. Yesterday, we had a little time to ourselves after breakfast, and mum and I decided to make these savory madeleines that I love- mum usually makes them with a herb and cheese, like parmesan and basil, but yesterday we left out the herbs and simply added some pepper with the cheddar. We found this clever recipe on Jean's lovely blog, who in turn found the recipe in Patricia Wells' The Provence Cookbook.

Madeleines have long been a favourite with the food blogging world and with good reason: they're like the Audrey Tautou of the high-tea table- quirky, elegant and incredibly photogenic. What I love about these savory babies is that unlike traditional madeleines, which can be a little temperamental, these are hard to mess up, whip up in a cinch, don't need more than a few pantry ingredients and most importantly, require only one bowl! The only catch is that although you can bake these in muffin tins, it won't be quite the same as biting into tiny, fluted, shell-shaped madeleines and for this, you'll need a madeleine pan, or a mini-madeleine pan, like the one we've used here. If you've ever seen one at a baking store and wondered who is crazy enough to buy a pan that makes nothing besides madeleines , I'm here to tell you that it's worth it.

Cheddar and Pepper Mini Madeleines

Adapted from Lemons and Anchovies

(makes 22)

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

Add all the ingredients except for the cheese and pepper into a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the cheese, pepper and gently mix in.

Spoon the mixture into a greased madeleine pan and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden.

Serve warm.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder