''Over and over again I keep tasting that sweet madeleine looking back at my life now and then asking:
if not later then when?'' --Memory of the Future--
The legend of Madaleines is quite interesting for me especially since it mentions Stanislaw Leszczynski, Duke of Lorraine & King of Poland. The story goes that, back in 1755, his cook, Madeleine Paulmier prepared little cakes which charmed Louis XV, his son-in-law. He named them after her. While his wife, Maria Leszczysnka introduced them to the court in Versailles. They became much beloved by the royal family, and they conquered the rest of France in no time. Nowadays Madaleines are one of main staples of the French kitchen.
Use Madaleine pan.
Makes about 24 cakes
Method
Melt the butter in a saucepan, set aside.
Using a standing mixer with a whip beater attachment cream the eggs and sugar till creamy and fluffy, it should take about 10 minutes.
In a separate bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and lemon zest.
Mix the honey and milk with the cooled butter. In two batches add the butter to the eggs. Then fold in the flour using a spatula.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap/film and let it cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Butter and flour your Madaleine pan.
Fill 3/4 of each mould with the batter. You might need to make two batches as most of the pans have 12 moulds.
Bake at 190ºC, fan on for 5 min then switch off the oven for 1 minute, turn the oven back on and bake it at 160º for another 5 minutes or till nice and golden. Let it cool on top of the cooling rack, sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.
Ingredients
- 200g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the tin
- 20g acacia honey
- 120g caster sugar
- 200g plain flour
- 3 eggs
- zest from one lemon
- 4 tablespoons of full fat milk
- icing sugar for serving