Prep Time : 15 Minutes | Cook Time : 10 Minutes | Total Time : 30 Minutes | Difficulty : Moderate
Welcome to spring my lovelies!! It’s a bit grey today but it has been fabulous here lately with sunshine and mild weather and longer days. I felt like I needed something light and lemony and these madeleines totally fit the bill. Light and frivolous and french. I have had my madeleine pans for a while and don’t use them nearly enough! The shape is so whimsical and sweet. This recipe is very straightforward and the batter is easy to prepare. The tricks are in the preparation of the pans and careful hawk-like monitoring while baking. It is essential not to over-bake, but since they are made of next to nothing then making a second batch to practice is not such a hardship and you can always drizzle the slightly dry ones with liqueur and top with custard and blueberries for instant trifle! This is also an excellent idea for any that might be hanging around the next day.
Heat the oven to 220C (425F). Prepare the madeleine pans carefully. Make sure they are very clean before you start. Brush each cavity generously with melted butter and dust with flour.
Set aside in a cool spot. If you don’t have madeleine pans you can use a mini-muffin pan. They will still taste great, albeit with slightly less devastating french charm. Beat the sugars, lemon zest and eggs until thick and pale.
While the egg mixture is whipping melt the butter and honey together until just melted. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt onto the egg mixture and fold together until mostly combined.
Add the butter and fold until the batter is mixed. Be very gentle!
Filling only the tray you are about to bake, use a tablespoon or small cookie scoop to fill the cavities. They should only be about half full. They will spread to fill the shells as they bake. Get a wire rack out so it’s ready.
Put the tray straight in the oven and bake for 6 to 8 minutes until risen and golden and JUST set. Remove the tray from the oven and rap it on the bench on the long side to loosen the cakes. They should tumble out onto the waiting wire rack. If they are stubborn give the pan a couple more taps on the other sides.
Continue until all the batter is baked. Dust generously with icing sugar and devour immediately with tea or coffee. Or champagne. We are pretending to be french after all…
Lemon + Honey Madeleines
Prep Time : 15 mins | Cook Time : 10 mins | Total Time : 30 mins | Difficulty : Moderate | Makes : 20 regular madeleines
Tender, moist lemony cakes with a hint of honey – best eaten warm with a dusting of icing sugar.
Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup (75 grams) caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon dark brown (muscovado) sugar
- 1 generous teaspoon lemon zest
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon well flavoured honey
- (90 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- icing sugar, for dusting
– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients –
Equipment:
- standing or hand-held electric mixer
- 2 x 12 cup madeleine moulds or a 24 cup mini-muffin pan
Directions:
Heat the oven to 220C (425F). Prepare the madeleine pans carefully. Make sure they are very clean before you start. Brush each cavity generously with melted butter and dust with flour.
Set aside in a cool spot. If you don’t have madeleine pans you can use a mini-muffin pan. They will still taste great, albeit with slightly less devastating french charm. Beat the sugars, lemon zest and eggs until thick and pale.
While the egg mixture is whipping melt the butter and honey together until just melted. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt onto the egg mixture and fold together until mostly combined. Add the butter and fold until the batter is mixed. Be very gentle!
Filling only the tray you are about to bake, use a tablespoon or small cookie scoop to fill the cavatities. Get a wire rack out so it’s ready. Put the tray straight in the oven and bake for 6 to 8 minutes until risen and golden and JUST set.
Remove the tray from the oven and rap it on the bench on the long side to loosen the cakes. They should tumble out onto the waiting wire rack. If they are stubborn give the pan a couple more taps on the other sides. Continue until all the batter is baked. Serve immediately, dusted with icing sugar.
Cook’s Notes:
- If you don’t have a lemon, flavour these cakes with the zest of a lime or an orange
- Do not over-bake these cakes or they will be dry and tough
- For the best turning-out results don’t scoop the batter into the prepared pans until just before they go in the oven. Do them one tray at a time.
– These delicate cakes are absolutely best within an hour of baking, preferably while they are still warm. They are still nice the next day though –
Adapted from The Roux Brothers on Patisserie.
© 2016 The Winsome Baker. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
