Madeleines – Once Upon a Chef

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Classic French madeleines are so simple to prepare — and, yet, so wonderful.

Easy to make and quick to bake, madeleines are mini butter cakes from the Lorraine region of France with a distinctive shell-like shape and hump in the center. Traditional recipes like this one include very finely ground nuts, usually almonds, and many variations are flavored with lemon or citrus. The cakes have a buttery, vanilla-almond flavor, pound cake-like texture, and crisp, toasted edges. Madeleines are best warm from the oven, so try to serve them freshly baked. The batter needs to be refrigerated for at least an hour (or overnight) in the mold before baking, so it’s easy to just pop them in the oven right before you plan to serve them. In France, madeleines are served with coffee or tea in the morning or for le goûter, the 4 o’clock snack.

The recipe is adapted from The Complete Robuchon by Joel Robuchon (Grub Street, 2008). His original recipe is made with egg whites only. It is excellent as written, but I didn’t want you to have to sacrifice 6 egg yolks! If you’d like to try it, increase the butter to 14 tablespoons and use 6 large egg whites. Finally, you’ll need madeleine pans to bake traditional shell-shaped cakes; a mini muffin pan also works beautifully (the bake time is the same).

What You’ll Need To Make Madeleines

The recipe calls for super-fine almond flour, which is easy to find in most supermarkets. If you’re baking for someone with a nut allergy, or just don’t want to use nuts, the almond flour can be replaced with more all-purpose flour.

If you’d like to try a lemon variation, add 2 packed teaspoons of lemon zest to the batter.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Spray the madeleine (or mini muffin) pans with baking spray with flour. It’s best to use a light-colored metal baking pan, as the madeleines darken quickly in a dark-colored pan. (If a dark metal pan is the only option, start checking for doneness around 8 to 10 minutes.)

In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, almond flour, salt, and confectioners’ sugar.

Whisk to combine.

In another medium bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the flour-sugar mixture.

Whisk until the mixture is evenly combined.

Add the melted butter, honey, and vanilla.

Whisk until the batter is smooth and thickened.

Fill the pan(s): Transfer the batter to a large liquid measuring cup. Carefully pour the batter into the into the hollows of the molds so that they are almost completely full. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight to firm up before baking. (If you only have one madeleine pan, the extra batter can be refrigerated in the liquid measuring cup or a separate container, and spooned into the mold once it is available; no need to refrigerate the batter in the mold again before baking.)

About 30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 400°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Place a piece of parchment paper over a cooling rack (the parchment will prevent the rack from leaving indentation marks on the cakes).

Bake one pan at a time for 11 to 13 minutes, until the madeleines are pale and firm to the touch on top and golden around the edges. (The bottoms brown more quickly than the tops, so keep the tops pale.) Remove the pan from the oven and let the madeleines cool in the pan for 3 to 4 minutes.

 

Using a butter knife to lift up the edges, transfer the madeleines to a parchment paper-lined cooling rack, shell-side up, and cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve warm, dusted with confectioners’ sugar if desired.

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