If you’re needing to treat yourself or your someone special to an amazing French treat, this is the recipe for you. Madeleines are easy to make but hard to perfect, so you may have to give a few goes. The key to good madeleines is getting the dough uber cold then popping it into an over-hot oven; this activates the baking powder is a way that causes the dough to rise creating a fluffier treat. Generally, you’ll use a clamshell madeleine baking sheet but if you don’t have one you can use a cupcake pan (or some molded baking sheet) functionally okay but the presentation’s all wrong. This recipe makes ~20 madeleines.
Note: You need to start this recipe at least 24 hours prior to baking. An important part of making madeleines is browning the butter, the process is outlined below. Also, madeleines don’t stay fresh very long on the counter, but you can freeze them or store them in the fridge. Best eaten fresh though.
Ingredients
- 113 g Butter – 4 oz or 1 quarter lb stick
- 12 g Vanilla extract – 2 tsp
- 175 g Sugar – ~3/4 cup
- 145 g Flour – ~ 1 cup
- 6.5 g Baking Powder
- 2.5 g Salt – 0.25 tsp
- 3 Eggs – ambient (room) temperature
- 1 Lemmon or Orange zest
Process
- Mise en Place – Measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
- Brown the butter*
- Remove butter from heat and add the citrus zests and vanilla extract. Let cool.
- Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together.
- In stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat eggs at med speed (4) gradually adding sugar.
- Once all the sugar is added, increase speed (+7/8) and whip until stiff (~4 mins).
- Gently fold flour mixture into whipped eggs.
- Fold in butter mixture.
- Cover and rest in fridge for a min of 4 hours. Can rest up to 2 days (24 hours optimal).
- Bake
- Preheat oven to 400F (make sure oven is evenly heated to temp).
- Generously brush mold pans with butter and dust with flour.
- Scoop batter into molds using two-tablespoon method.**
- Do not spread, they will form to the mold during baking.
- Turn oven down to 375F just before putting pans in to bake.
- Bake ~12 mins until the bellies have risen and are golden brown.***
- Remove from oven and let pan cool before transferring madeleines to a cooling rack.
- Optionally dust with powder sugar, but that is not how the French do it.
*Browning butter is a necessary and important part of this recipe because browning butter creates a nutty and bold flavor. To brown butter you want to gently cook it on low heat. The butter will sizzle and then foam as it cooks into a nutty and caramelized flavor. Burnt bits of milk solids will form at the bottom of the pan, you want to retain them, they have the most flavor. Put butter in pan as you heat on Med or Med/low depending on your stove. As the butter sizzles stir continually to ensure it doesn’t burn (6-8 mins). The butter will foam as you stir, and the milk solids will fall to the bottom of the pan. Continue until the butter takes a golden to dark brown color depending on what you’re going for.
**The two-spoon method is to scoop the batter in one spoon and use the second spoon to shape the batter into the portion size you want. Use the free spoon to gently push the batter into the mold.
***The reason you overheat the oven prior to baking is to shock the baking powder into activating. If the madeleine bellies don’t rise, you didn’t make them right….try again. They’ll still taste fine, just be a bit dense.
