My friend Jordan has been on and on at me for weeks to make him madeleines. When he lived in Paris he used to buy madeleines every day. Seeing as he was clearly going to compare my madeleines to those made my a Parisian pastry chef, I was understandably nervous, especially as I had never made them before.
So last night I decided to try them out and I was surprised by how easy they were. I took bits from different recipes to come up with this recipe which makes 9 classic madeleines. Obviously, if you want more, just increase the amounts.
Ingredients
60g/2.1oz unsalted butter
1 large egg
50g/1.76oz caster sugar
50g/1.76oz plain flour/all purpose flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract
lemon, for zesting
icing/confectioners sugar, for dusting
Preheat oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
Melt the butter over a low heat. Once melted, use some of the butter to grease your madeleine mould. I was using a silicone mould which doesn’t need any greasing, but if you have a metal, non-stick mould, you will need to brush with melted butter then dust with some flour and tap out the excess.
Whisk the egg and caster sugar until thick and light in colour. This should take about 3 minutes.
Add the vanilla extract and some lemon zest. As I was experimenting, I just added a little lemon zest, perhaps 1/4 tsp. Next time I think I’ll add a bit more, but its up to you and how you like them.
Next, fold in the sifted flour and baking powder.
Once its thoroughly incorporated, add the cooled melted butter and fold. The mixture should feel quite thick yet airy.
Fill each mould with the mixture.
Then place in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed up.
Allow to cool on a cooling rack, then dust with icing sugar.
And there you have it…9 gloriously light and airy sponge cakes with a delicate crust.
I will definitely be making these again. Next time I might stir some chocolate through to make a marbled effect, or maybe add some chocolate chips, or perhaps even dip in chocolate. And I think I’ll try making a batch including some ground almonds. I saw Rachel Khoo making some delicious looking lemon curd madeleines which are in her book The Little Paris Kitchen, and I’d like to try those too. So watch this space!
10 Comments
I’m going to have to make some madeleines for Christmas now, these would make lovely presents wrapped in some cellophane and tied with ribbon!
Yes, I had the same idea actually. I bought some of these presentation bags from Lakeland – http://www.lakeland.co.uk/12007/50-Presentation-Bags
Just need to get some Christmas ribbon. 🙂
They look SOOOO yummy
Hi lovely – where did you get your silicone Madeleine tin? I always struggle getting mine out of the tin one! Gx
Hey! I actually really liked it. I didn’t think it would be as good as a metal tin but I got a good shape and they slipped out easily. I actually brushed a tiny bit of the melted butter inside the moulds just before I put the mixture in as I suddenly got nervous they wouldn’t come out. Luckily they were fine. X
These look so good I may be forced to break my long-standing objection to silicone bakeware and buy the Madeleine tin you mention. Do you think I could successfully improvise with chocolate Madeleines? Or is that a step too far?
I was going to try out chocolate madeleines actually. Three ways – classic madeleines half dipped into melted chocolate then left to dry (maybe also dipped in chopped toasted hazelnuts?). I was also going to try choc-chip madeleines and perhaps a chocolate marble effect.
There are so many options! I just need to find the time to try them all out! 😉
Ooh choc chip. Yum yum. Will have to pop over to lakeland sharpish. If only there was one in Bristol. Am seriously considering lobbying for one.
I don’t have one near me either. But I find myself on their website quite a lot which is dangerous. I spend so much more money when I shop online!
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