← Nouns Cooking · French

Ingredients

• 125 g butter, plus extra for the tin, melted and cooled slightly
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 120 g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp Honey
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 130 g plain flour, plus extra for the tin
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 tbsp icing sugar, to dust (optional)

Method

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk for 5 min, until pale, thick and doubled in volume. Whisk in the honey, lemon zest and vanilla.
2. Sift over the flour, baking powder and salt and fold in gently with a spatula. Pour the melted butter down the side of the bowl and fold until just combined and glossy.
3. Cover and chill the batter for at least 1 hour (or overnight). The cold batter hitting a hot oven is what makes the classic bump.
4. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, 400°F). Brush a madeleine tin with melted butter, dust with flour and tap out the excess. Fill each shell about three-quarters full; do not spread the batter.
5. Bake for 9–11 min, until risen in the middle, golden at the edges and springy to the touch.
6. Tap the madeleines out onto a rack straight away and eat warm, dusted with icing sugar if you like.

Tips

• They are best within a few hours of baking; dip day-old ones in tea, as Proust did.
• This makes about 24 in a standard tin, so bake in two batches, chilling the tin in between if you can.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

RecipeTin Eats Serious Eats