Madeleine Madness

As I mentioned in my last post, I have recently acquired a Madeleine tin and since then I have gone a little over board in baking them.

THEY ARE JUST SO EASY! and delicious!

So here are a couple of recipes which I think are fab...

Lemony Madeleines -  this is inspired by Michael Roux Jr's recipe

2 eggs
100g caster sugar
100g plain flour
1 lemon, juice and zest
3/4 tsp baking powder
100g butter, melted and cooled

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 5

Using a pastry brush, cover the molds in melted butter so they cakes come out of the tin all nicely.

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until frothy like shaving cream and then whisk in the remaining ingredients. 

You can leave this to stand for 20 minutes if you wish, but I have found that it is not really necessary. 

Pour the mixture in to the molds so that they are 3/4 full, this gives them space to rise.

Bake for around 10 minutes, or until spongy and a cake tester comes out clean.

Eat quickly!

Honey and Almond Madeleines

2 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

65g caster sugar

25g runny honey

100g plain flour

50g ground almonds

100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons of flaked almonds

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 5

Using a pastry brush, cover the molds in melted butter so they cakes come out of the tin all nicely.

Whisk together the eggs, honey, vanilla extract  and sugar until mousse-like.

Fold in flour and ground almonds.

Drizzle melted butter over the mixture and mix until there are no more buttery streaks.

Pour the mixture in to the molds so that they are 3/4 full, this gives them space to rise. Scatter flaked almonds over the top.

Bake for around 10 minutes, or until spongy and a cake tester comes out clean.

These can be kept for up to 4 days in an air-tight container. 

I personally prefer the first recipe as I love lemon and I think it makes a really nice fresh sponge. But try both!

New Zealand Madelines

While I was in New Zealand over the summer holidays I found out that my relatives who live there had a Madeline tray. So it was whipped out and the opportunity was seized by all.

The mixture for madelines is very similar to that of a sponge except it has a lemon in it.

You start by whisking the sugar and eggs.

Demonstrated by my cousin Kiri

 You then add a lemon, in this case from their lemon tree in the garden.

The lemon rind has to be grated off in to the mixture, the rest of the lemon can be discarded.

Then the remaining ingredients are added and whisked to the normal cake mixture. 

You then dollop the mixture into the madeline tray and bake for about 15 minutes. 

They then come out of the tray and due to the lovely shape of the mold they look quite nice even if they are slightly burnt.