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Madeleines have a reputation. They hold a special place as a literary icon/cultural cliche, all as the result of a book most people haven't actually read. Until eating them fresh from the oven at Dominique Ansel Kitchen, I'd never liked them. I thought they were dry and tasteless and boring. Dominique Ansel was the first to satisfactorily explain this to me in his cookbook, the Secret Recipes. Madeleines are best eaten immediately, and should not to last more than an hour or two at the most. His mini hazelnut madeleines, served fresh-from-the-oven madeleines finally made me a madeleine believer.
When the med chem group was responsible for food & drinks at a work party last May, we/I went a little wild with our "May the fourth be with you" theme. There are a lot of ideas out there on the internet for Star Wars themed parties, starting with easy finger foods and quickly entering very complicated territory. One of the more accessible ideas was a Sarlacc pit Bundt cake, which involved using two madeleines for the jaws. I decided if I was going to make two madeleines for the party, I might as well make a full batch of madeleines, obviously... So, off I went to my cookbook shelves for an appropriate madeleine recipe. After reading several blog posts about the right way to bake madeleines (none of them were the same), I settled on the vanilla madeleine recipe in the Duchess Bake Shop. I've tried baking one cake from the Duchess Bake Shop cookbook, however I went dramatically off-script partway through because I was missing several ingredients. That's not exactly a fair way to judge a cookbook! Here was the book's chance to shine.... and shine it did, although the directions left a lot to the imagination. I determined what "well-combined", which was the end point for every step, meant based on the consensus of everything I'd read. Thankfully, the ingredient ratios were spot on, and my methods were valid, so my vanilla madeleines turned out great.
This batter comes together really easily, and madeleines are one of the few cakes meant to be eaten warm so you should eat them immediately after baking, but you do need to plan ahead to achieve the classic hump.
Tips for success:
- Eggs must be room temperature (~30-60 minutes in advance, or hurry the process with a water bath)
- Butter must be melted then given time to cool to room-temperature (~30-60 minutes in advance)
- The first two mixing steps should each last several minutes to fully aerate
- Grease & flour or nonstick-spray your madeleine pan well
- After mixing the batter, portion 1.5 Tablespoon dollops directly into the cavities of your prepared pan
- Equal, careful portioning of the batter is critical
- Freeze the pan (which contains your batter) for 2-3 hours
- Keep the rest of your batter covered and chilled in the refrigerator
- After baking the first batch, you can cook the rest directly (no need to re-freeze the pan+batter)
Ingredients
Madeleine Batter
- 160 grams (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 150 grams (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 150 grams (⅔ cup) unsalted butter melted and cooled back to room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste
Simple Glaze (optional)
- 100 grams (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 120 grams (½ cup) water
Instructions
To make the cookies:
- Lightly grease a 16- or 24-cavity madeleine pan with melted butter, then lightly dust with flour to prevent sticking (or using a baking spray).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder (to combine and aerate).
- In a separate medium-sized mixing bowl, beat the first measure of sugar together with the eggs for several minutes, until the mixture is light yellow and very thick.
- Add the melted-then-cooled butter and vanilla, and beat for another few minutes. The batter should be quite voluminous.
- Gently fold in the flour mix, so the batter loses as little volume as possible.
- Portion the batter into the lightly greased wells of a standard-size madeleine pan, using 1.5 tablespoons of batter for each well. Freeze the pan+batter (covered or uncovered), for 2-3 hours. If you have extra batter remaining, cover & refrigerate the batter.
To glaze (optional):
- While the batter chills, make the simple syrup glaze. In a small saucepan, combine the water and sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
To bake/assemble:
- Bake the madeleines in a preheated 375°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until they're light brown at the edges. You should see the bump rise up in the middle of each madeleine.
- Immediately unmold the baked madeleines by gently tapping the pan on the counter. Gently grasp a madeleine at one end, and dip in the simple syrup to cover completely. Set on a rack (over parchment paper, to catch any drips) to cool for a few minutes.
- Serve while still warm.
Notes
- batter will keep in an air-tight container for 3 days in the fridge or 1 month in the freezer.
- baked madeleines are really best fresh from the oven, and will go stale within half a day after baking.
- Lemon - zest of 1 lemon
- replace the simple syrup with a whisked mixture of 120 grams (½ cup) lemon juice and 60 grams (½ cup) confectioner's sugar
- Lavender - 2 teaspoons dried culinary-grade lavender
- Vanilla rose/orange - seeds from 1 vanilla bean, ½ -> 1 teaspoon rose water or orange water (start with the smaller amount to your taste preference)
- Gingerbread - 1½ teaspoon ground ginger + ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon + ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
