Madeleine Pastry Recipes

CLASSIC FRENCH MADELEINES

Steps:

• Cut the butter in tablespoons and place them in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, reduce the heat to low and continue cooking, until the solids sink to the bottom of the pan and turn golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour the browned butter into a small bowl. Stir the vanilla and lemon zest into the butter, then set aside to cool.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside until needed.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed while gradually adding the sugar. Once all of the sugar has been added, increase the speed to medium-high and continue whipping the mixture until it's very thick and pale in color, about 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the mixer off and, using a silicon spatula, fold in the flour mixture in three additions, stirring just until combined. Fold in the butter mixture.
• Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, and up to 2 days.
• 30 minutes before you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees (F). Generously brush the molds of your madeleine pan with butter, then lightly dust with flour.
• Using a medium cookie scoop, spoon level scoops of the batter into the center of each mold. You don't need to spread the batter.
• Bake for 12 minutes, or until the "bellies" have risen and they're golden brown.
• Cool madeleines in the pan placed on a cooling rack for a minute or two, then gently loosen them from the molds. If they stick, carefully run a small knife around the edge of the cakes until they release.
• Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve warm, with coffee or tea.

FRENCH BUTTER CAKES (MADELEINES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter and flour 12 (3 inch) madeleine molds; set aside.
• Melt butter and let cool to room temperature.
• In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, vanilla and salt at high speed until light.
• Beating constantly, gradually add sugar; and continue beating at high speed until mixture is thick and pale and ribbons form in bowl when beaters are lifted, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Sift flour into egg mixture 1/3 at a time, gently folding after each addition.
• Add lemon zest and pour melted butter around edge of batter. Quickly but gently fold butter into batter. Spoon batter into molds; it will mound slightly above tops.
• Bake 14 to 17 minutes, or until cakes are golden and the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertip.
• Use the tip of the knife to loosen madeleines from pan; invert onto rack. Immediately sprinkle warm cookies with granulated sugar. Madeleines are best eaten the day they're baked. Leftover madeleines are wonderful when dunked into coffee or tea.
• Variation: Chocolate Madeleines: Omit lemon zest. Increase sugar to 1/2 cup. Substitute 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder for 2 tablespoons of the flour; sift into batter with flour.

MADELEINES

Steps:

• Combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon to blend. Add the zest. Stir in the eggs, mixing just to combine. You do not want to incorporate too much air into the batter. Finally, stir in the butter.
• Cover the bowl with plastic film and refrigerate for 1 hour, or until well chilled. The chilling is important, as it makes the batter easier to pipe and ensures a higher rise during baking. At this point, the batter may be stored, covered and refrigerated, for up to 4 days.
• Butter and flour the madeleine molds.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Immediately transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitting with a #5 plain tip and pipe into the prepared molds. Bake the madeleines for about 7 minutes (about 11 minutes for larger cakes), or until the cakes spring back in the center when lightly touched.

MADELEINES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour madeleine pans carefully. Melt butter and let it cool.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk eggs, sugar and salt together until thick, about 8 minutes. Add vanilla and lemon zest. Using a rubber spatula, fold in flour, rapidly but gently. Fold in butter gently, but make sure it does not settle to bottom. Quickly spoon mixture into prepared madeleine pans. Bake until golden, about 7 minutes. Remove from pans. Cool on racks.

MADELEINES II

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour twenty-four 3-inch Madeleine molds.
• In a medium bowl beat eggs, vanilla and lemon zest with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar. Beat for 5 to 7 minutes or until thick and satiny.
• Sift together the flour and baking powder. Sift one-fourth of the flour mixture over the egg mixture, gently fold in. Fold in the remaining flour by fourths. Then fold in the melted and cooled butter. Spoon batter into the prepared molds, filling 3/4 full.
• Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden and the top s spring back. Cool in molds on a rack for 1 minute. Loosen cookies with a knife. Invert cookies onto a rack and cool. Sift confectioners' sugar over the tops or melt semi-sweet chocolate chips and dip the tips in the chocolate. Store in an airtight container.

MADELEINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix the sugar and grated lemon peel together in a large bowl, and set the mixture aside for about an hour.
• Pour the eggs into the mixture, and mix them together.
• Add milk, and mix until blended.
• Mix in flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar.
• Add the softened butter, and mix until blended.
• Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for about an hour. (Personally, I don't think this step is necessary.)
• You'd better get a non-stick Madeleine mold, and you need to butter and flour the pan before pouring the batter into it. Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Spoon the batter into the pan. Fill about 2/3 of the pan. Bake until puffed and brown (13-15 min).
• Remove the cookies from the pan when they are still hot. Let them cool on a cooling rack.
• You can slightly butter and flour the pan again for the next batch.
• Dust the cookies with icing sugar before serving.

EARL GREY MADELEINES

Steps:

• Sift together the flour and baking powder. Put the honey in a medium heatproof bowl, and place a strainer over the bowl.
• Bring the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. As the butter cooks, gently swirl the pan. The butter will foam, then bubble, then turn golden. In 5 to 7 minutes, when the butter browns (it will be the color of hazelnuts, and have that aroma as well), pour it through the strainer onto the honey. Some dark bits will slip through the strainer, and that's fine! Stir to blend.
• In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, zest, tea, eggs and egg white, and milk until combined; whisk 1 or 2 minutes more after the ingredients are blended. Add the flour mixture in three to four additions, whisking the ingredients together gently. You'll have a thick batter that will fall back on itself in a ribbon. Switch to a spatula, and gradually stir in the warm butter-honey mixture. The batter will have a beautiful sheen. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface, and refrigerate the batter for at least 8 hours or up to 2 days.
• When you're ready to bake, center a rack in the oven, and heat it to 425 degrees.
• Butter and flour a regular-size madeleine pan (or coat it with nonstick baking spray); do this even if the pan is nonstick. Use a slightly rounded tablespoon of batter to fill each shell. Don't worry about leveling the batter, as it will even out in the oven. Cover, and refrigerate any remaining batter.
• Bake the madeleines until the cakes are golden and the bumps spring back when gently prodded, 11 to 13 minutes. Unmold immediately by rapping the pan against the counter. Serve now ... or don't. The madeleines stale quickly, but that just makes them better for dunking. If you're baking more madeleines, be certain to cool the pan between batches.

VANILLA MADELEINES

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl.
• Whisk together eggs and granulated and brown sugars with a mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Sift flour mixture over top in 2 additions, folding in after each addition. Fold in melted butter in 2 additions, then honey and vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Let batter stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Generously butter 2 standard-size or 2 mini nonstick or aluminum madeleine pans using a pastry brush.
• Transfer batter to a pastry bag, and snip tip to create a 1/2-inch opening. Pipe some batter into molds, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake on middle rack until pale gold, 8 to 11 minutes (6 to 8 minutes for mini madeleines). Immediately shake madeleines out. Wash and rebutter molds. Repeat with remaining batter. Dust baked madeleines with confectioners' sugar.