Classic French Madeleines – Easy Recipe

Madeleines are a delightful little French butter cake perfect for serving with tea or coffee and also snacks for your little ones! Their light sponge texture with crispy buttery edges makes them irresistible!

Very popular among kids, perfect for a quick snack after a play session or after school. Their small size and a unique shape makes them easy to handle and a great choice for kids. Bring these to your playdates or next get-togethers, will be a great crowd pleaser.

Surprisingly unlike other French desserts, these are very easy to prepare and only takes a handful of ingredients commonly available in our kitchens.

But there is one catch, you need a special baking pan for making these buttery cakes. I recommend to get a set of two non-stick pans as most recipes will make 2 dozen and it’s a drag to have to wash and rebutter the pans between baking sessions. It also really helps to have a pastry brush to coat the pans with the butter.

Surprisingly this recipe is really simple. just 3 steps – whisk eggs with sugar, orange zest and baking powder, then add the flour and then the butter. Then fill the pans and put them in the pre-heated oven. My daughter had a great time preparing the batter and also preparing the pan by brushing the molds with melted butter. Another great recipe for trying with your kids!

I used orange zest but you can also use lemon zest for the classic French version.

Because Holi is just around the corner we added a bit of color to our Madeleines for fun!

Ingredients: (makes 24 Madeleines)

• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
• 1 1/2 (7.5 ml) tsp orange zest
• 1 cup (120 g) flour
• 1 tsp (5 ml) baking powder
• ¼ tsp (1.25 ml) salt
• 8 tbsp (60 ml) melted butter – 1 stick
• 1 tbsp (7 g) powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan on low heat. Be careful not to burn it. You can also use microwave to melt it but do it in stages. Let the butter cool slightly.
2. In another medium bowl, whisk the three eggs with the vanilla, salt, and orange zest until the eggs are frothy. Then add sugar and whisk again.
3.  Add the flour to the eggs. Using a spatula, stir until just combined.
4. Next add the melted butter and whisk everything together. Do not over mix.
5. Rest the batter. Cover the bowl with a plate (or plastic wrap) and place in the refrigerator to rest at least one hour and up to overnight. This is important to make sure the flour is hydrated and has absorbed the moisture from the butter and the eggs. So don’t skip this step.
6. Prepare the pans. Use a pastry brush to butter the pans. If you are using non-stick pans, no need to use flour-butter mixture.
7. Preheat the oven and fill pans. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the batter from the refrigerator. Fill well in the madeleine pan with 1 tablespoon of the batter. You can also use an ice-cream scooper.
8. Bake the madeleines. Place both pans on a baking sheet for easy handling and place in the oven. Bake these for 7 to 8 minutes.
9. Cool and dust with sugar. Remove the madeleines from the oven and let cool for 2 minutes. Gently loosen the madeleines from their molds and place them onto a cooling wrack or tea towel. Once cool, dust lightly with powdered sugar and serve. NOTE – If you are freezing or storing the madeleines, do not dust with the sugar until you are about to serve.
10. To store. Store cooled madeleines in an airtight container for a few days. I can guarantee you they won’t last that long 🙂