Madeleines take me back to a very special time when I had my daughter. She was a baby that loved to be on my hip at all times, and I must admit I really enjoyed carrying her around and showing her the simple pleasures of everyday life. It did mean I was often one hand short, so that’s where these madeleines came into the picture.
The recipe is based on The Roux brothers honey madeleines recipe in their book “patisserie’. It was a cake I could mix and bake with one hand while balancing a baby on the other, and a bonus it was incredibly quick to cook so any cake cravings could be easily satisfied.
My madeleines have been made with Australian chestnut flour which gives them an earthy flavour together with the nuttiness created by browning the butter. Extra honey drizzled on top (especially if it’s pure and local) make theses extra delicious.
Even better - they are best fresh so that’s a good excuse for a bit of gluttony !

Ingredients

20g organic honey
100g unsalted butter
50g plain flour
50g chestnut flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
80g raw caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
a pinch of salt
extra butter and *plain flour for greasing the madeleine tin
extra honey for drizzling

Makes around 24 mini madeleines, or 12 large madeleines

To make the madeleines

Preheat the oven to 190 deg C fan forced.
Sift together the flours and baking powder and set aside.
To make a nut butter - melt the butter in a small saucepan and continue to heat over low to medium heat until the solids have become a deep brown and the butter releases a nutty aroma. Take care not to burn the solids.
Sieve the solids from the liquid butter into a small bowl and then stir in the honey. Mix well and allow to cool.
In a mixing bowl, gently beat together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until everything is evenly combined.
Mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture by hand until it is just combined.
Finish by mixing in the cooled honey and butter mixture, and stir gently until everything is smoothly mixed together.
Chill the mixture in a covered bowl for 4 hours in the fridge.
To prepare the madeleine trays, brush them well with melted butter (and dust them with flour if there is no non stick coating) then place the tray in the freezer to chill while you are preparing the madeleine mixture for piping.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle with the mixture, and pipe heaped quantities of batter into the chilled trays.
Bake for around 6 minutes or until they have formed little domes and are just done.
Allow to cool in the tray for a minute before inverting onto a rack

Serve the madeleines still warm and drizzled with extra honey.

Note: if you have larger madeleine trays adjust the baking time to a few minutes longer until the cakes are just cooked (around 10-12 minutes depending on the tin size)

*I have used a mini madeleine tin supplied by Bakemaster. This has been really handy as is just needs a small amount of greasing due to its non-stick coating and the madeleines tip out quite effortlessly. If you have a regular madeleine tray, grease well, getting right into the ridges and also dust the trays in a little flour (tapping off any excess) before chilling them in the freezer. This will help ensure that they don’t stick to the pan.