Madeleines are little French spongey heavenly treats shaped like cute little shells, double whammy. Light, buttery, and slightly sweet, madeleines are simple to make at home and make for a great afternoon snack or dessert.
Explore French madeleines with this quick and easy recipe.
Tools you’ll need
For the iconic madeleine look, you will need a madeleine pan. If you do not have one, you can use a muffin tin or another mold for small treats.
Other than this you will need a mixing bowls, a whisk, and a silicone spatula (or the leaf tool on a stand mixer). Optionally, you may want to use a piping bag to pipe the madeleines into the mold.
For more information on essential tools to have to practice French baking, check out this article.
Ingredients
- 100g melted butter (warm, not hot)
- 140g room temperature eggs (about 3 medium eggs)
- 100g sugar
- 120g flour
- 8g baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- the zest of 1 lemon (optinal, but highly recommended)
Instructions
Step 1 – Prepare the batter
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until the mixture becomes lightly pale and slightly fluffy. Add in your optional lemon zest.
Step 2 – Add dry ingredients
- Gently mix in the sifted flour and baking powder with a silicone spatula. Add the salt, and mix until homogenous. Avoid overmixing the batter.
Step 3 – Add butter
- Slowly fold in the melted butter (that you let lightly cool down but stay liquid) until the batter becomes smooth and glossy.
Step 4 – Chill the batter
- Cover the batter and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes, ideally overnight. This allows your dry ingredients to blend smoothly into your batter and helps create the signature madeleine bump during baking.
Step 5 – Prepare your mold
- Grab your mold and use oil spray or soft butter to grease it.
- Sprinkle flour over your mold and rotate the mold from left to right, then up and down, to get the flour to stick to all the grease before shaking off the extra.
- Your mold is now ready, fill each mold with batter to the top and avoid over filling. This is best done using a piping bag, although you can also use a spoon.
Step 6 – Bake
- Preheat your oven to 430°F.
- Once your oven is preheated, lower the heat to 350°F and bake your madeleines for 7 – 9 minutes, or until the edges becomes lightly golden.
Step 7 – Cool, serve, and enjoy !
- Let the madeleines cool slightly before removing them from your mold, and then enjoy their sweet fluffy goodness with fresh tea or coffee !
Optional – Glaze your madeleines
- Mix the juice of half a lemon with 100g of powdered sugar. Lightly microwave the mixture, then dip the top of your madeleines into the mixtures, or lightly brush it over with a baking brush.
