I received an e-mail a few days ago from someone who wanted to know if I had found a good recipe for Madeleines. They had just read the article I wrote back in 2003 entitled “When Recipes Go Wild“, where I had recounted my mishaps in making these beloved petite cakes and how they tasted like eggs. At the end of the article I said that I was going to continue until I found a good recipe and indeed, I did find one.

Looking through my kitchen drawer I did find the recipe, but what I didn’t find was the source of recipe. My culinary skills are not to the level where I can make my own recipes from scratch. I rely heavily on recipes and I then tweak them to my tastes, or skill, whatever the case may be. After much googling and searching in my usual haunts, I can’t seem to find the recipe that I use. Granted, I have tweaked it a bit, but by no means can I lay claim to it being My Recipe — it’s just the one I use.

So all caveats and disclaimers aside, here is the recipe that I use for when I make Madeleines. I hope you like it.


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Ingredients:
½ cup Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 Stick of Butter (melted)
¾ tsp Baking Bowder
¾ cup All Purpose Flour
¼ tsp Salt
Zest of 1 lemon (or Vanilla Extract)

Instructions:
01. Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
02. Beat sugar and eggs togeher until throughly blended.
03. Add lemon rind (or dash of Vanilla extract) and melted butter.
04. Mix to blend
05. Sift together dry ingredients and add all at once to egg mixture
06. Stir just to lend
07. All mix to sit at room temperature for approximately 10 minutes
08. While mix is resting, generously butter Madeleine molds
09. Spoon mix into molds, filling approximately ¾ full
10. Bake appriximately 15 minutes, or until edges are golden brown
11. Turn over immediately onto cooling screen
12. Wide out each mold cavity, re-butter and fill again until desired number, or all of mix is used.
13. Store in airtight container until ready to serve, after the Madeleines have cooled

Notes:
I’ve had success using a variety of flavors. Vanilla extract, almond extract and even lemon rind and Vanilla together. All taste great. I typically use just vanilla extract, since it’s the easiest and I always have some on hand.

You can also dust the Madeleines with powered sugar if you like. It’s an ornamental effect, but it also adds a little bit of sweetness which may be needed if you’re using lemon rind for flavoring.

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I’ve had great success with this recipe and it’s been given the thumbs up by many friends and family. If you end up using it, I hope that you’ll post a comment, or send me an e-mail to let me know how it turned out.

Happy cooking… and eating!