Lemon Drizzled Madeleines
I’ve recently become entirely obsessed with baking again. I mean, the obsession never really went away, more that it was kind of hiding just beneath the surface. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I can count the amount of things I’ve baked over the past 7 months on one hand. Nope, I was wrong – I’m definitely ashamed. Like, hello, how did I survive!? The list includes two different types of brownies, a cheesecake, a chocolate birthday cake, & these madeleines. Seeing it written down like that is such a kick in the gut.
It was the chocolate cake that pushed me back into the swing of things – it was a really demanding four layer chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, a layer of ganach poured artfully over the top & down the sides, all topped off with some piped drops of extra buttercream on top. I loved every second of making it. & so here we are, back in the land of butter & chocolate & all things delicious. Which brings us to these lemony little madeleines.
Do you know what a madeleine is? If I’m being perfectly honest I wasn’t entirely sure until I started doing the research for this post. I mean, I’ve had a madeleine tray for about two years now… but this is the first time it’s ever been used. Anyone else fall victim to talking themselves into needing obscure shaped baking trays & then they just lie around unused? Don’t even get me started on my stollen tin. Anyway, madeleines are little shell shaped butter cakes. From what I gather online, they are meant to be crispy on the outside & moist & light on the inside.
Now, I’ve never actually had a real French madeleine, but these little babies turned out pretty good! They were crispy on the outside & moist & delicious on the inside. They also smelled like butter, which is always a big plus in my opinion. To make these, I melded together two recipes – one from a rather intimidating volume on apparently every French food item ever; & one from a most beloved cookbook of mine. Both recipes were for a plain & simple madeleine, so I decided to whip up a simple lemon drizzle to make them that extra bit more exciting.. & then I topped that off with some lemon zest, poppy seeds, and lemon wedges. Because I just don’t know how to leave well enough alone.
Ingredients
200g of plain flour, as well as extra for dusting the tray
1 teaspoon of baking powder
140g caster sugar
4 large eggs
200g of salted butter, softened; extra for greasing the tray
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of icing sugar
3-4 teaspoons of lemon juice
lemon zest & poppy seeds, for decoration (optional)
Method
Into a medium sized bowl, sift the flour & the baking powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to mix together the sugar & the eggs until fluffy. Once fluffy, at the butter. (I found that the butter actually had to be super soft in order to fully incorporate.)
Using your lucky spatula, gently fold the flour mixture & the vanilla extract into the mix. Cover the bowl with cling film & leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C; grease the madeleine tin thoroughly with butter & dust with flour.
Remove the mix from the fridge & place only one tablespoon in each madeleine mould (don’t over fill them, they spread in the oven!)
Bake the madeleines in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until they start to turn a lovely golden brown.
Remove & leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make lemon drizzle, mix 3-4 teaspoons of lemon juice with the icing sugar until happy with the consistency & zingy-ness!
Drizzle the glaze across the top & decorate with some shaved zest or perhaps some poppy seeds.
As an aside, aren’t flowers pretty? I never want to take any photos for the blog without them ever again.
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