Recipe French Madeleines

In my guide today, I'm teaching you How To Make Classic French Madeleines. These quintessentially French, petit, bite-sized sponge cakes are sweet, buttery and utterly delicious. I share all my tips and tricks, step by step directions and process images so that you can make these delicacies at home too.

Having travelled to France plenty of times, whether it was visiting my French Grandmother, holidaying as a uni student, or sharing my heritage with my children, French bakes will always hold a special place in my heart. Ranging from more technically advanced eclairs to simple home cooking such as French Toast or Yogurt Loaf Cake, there is something to please us all.

Madeleines have always won me over as simple sponge batter is turned into a thing of beauty by baking it in a specific shell mold. And it transforms these shell-shaped cookie cakes into an iconic French Pastry.

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Today's Madeleine recipe is taking you back to basics where the hero ingredients of browned butter and vanilla bean result in a sweet, nutty aromatic Madeleine that is classic yet simple and refined.

What are they? As mentioned above, they are light, gorgeously tender mini butter cakes that are baked in a specific shell-shaped mold. They are perfect in shape with a signature domed 'hump, and texture with a soft, moist interior and an exterior that is just crisp on the edges.

But a word of warning. Being so small in size, they lose their moisture quickly so it's not suggested to make them ahead of time. They are best eaten fresh out of the oven!

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Due to their small size, many call them cookies (predominantly in America) but others believe them to be small cakes. I guess you can call them what you want, but in my mind, they are cakes, not cookies!

Where are they from? Madeleines originate from a Northeastern region of France called Lorraine. How they came to be is a little murky but one legend has it is that they were baked and served in the 19th Century to an exiled Polish Prince who loved them so much that he named them after the baker and creator, Madeleine Paulmier.

From there, the popularity of these small cakes spread far and wide throughout France, making them the much-loved delicacy that they are today.

Classic French Madeleines

The ingredients used couldn't be any simpler. Below are a couple of notes to help you maximise the flavour of the Madeleines. Some flavour the batter with lemon or orange zest.

I have chosen not to as I want the browned butter and vanilla to shine through. If you'd like a subtle citrus addition then run the zest into the sugar to release the oils and then continue on with the recipe as normal.

Butter - Aim for the best quality butter that you can afford - it's such a major part of the ingredients that quality matters. Go for European butter if you can as the water content is much lower. As we're adding salt, later on, I prefer unsalted butter.

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Vanilla Bean Paste - I loved the intense flavour and multitude of vanilla beans that vanilla bean paste provides. You can substitute it for the vanilla pods scraped from a vanilla bean or vanilla extract. Steer clear of vanilla essence though as this is a 'fake' flavour and won't impart nearly as much flavour.

Eggs - The recipe calls for two large eggs. They must be at room temperature for them to whip sufficiently at the start. Pop the eggs in a bowl of warm water for ten minutes if you do forget to bring them to room temperature.

To get the signature shell shape, you definitely need a specific Madeleine pan. They generally come in two shapes, an oval small shell shape and a round, deeper shell shape.

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The most commonly available and used pan is the regular Madeleine Pan with an oval shell shape. This style of pan also comes in varying sizes, from extra mini to larger shells You can see in the image above that the black pan and silver pans are very different in size.

They most likely come with 12 depressions in the mould so I recommend purchasing two pans as the recipe makes 24 Madeleines. It can be a little annoying to have to wash, re-butter and chill the pan in the middle of baking the full quantity. Having two pans at your disposal makes the process easier.

You can also find large shell Madeleine Pans. They have beautiful large spherical shell moulds (as shown in the image above) and each mould holds double the amount of filling. Instead of the 24 small Madeleines, you bake up 12 larger ones. The bonus of this is that you only need to buy one pan.

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A couple of years ago I bought one of these pans and I absolutely love it. I made my Triple Chocolate Madeleines in this shape and have fallen head over heels in love with it – a wise investment for sure, I know that this pan will serve me well!

Note: whichever pan you decide on- even if it says it's non-stick, make sure to prep the pan correctly with the melted butter and dusting of flour. This helps give the classic Madeleines their crispy edges.

Even though there aren't loads of ingredients in this Madeleines recipe, it's how we use them that is key to the success of these magical cakes.

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Rather than creaming the sugar and butter together, which is the regular way of making sponge batter, the eggs and sugar are whisked until light and airy. The melted butter is then folded in delicately thus creating a light and airy sponge.

Why brown the butter first? Flavour. Pure and simple. By spending five extra minutes of hands-on time to do this step, the flavour shoots through the roof. It's so worth it! It imparts a super nutty, aromatic taste (yes, this is one of those times something can taste and smell nutty all at the same time!).

Don't know how to brown butter? Don't worry - I have a couple of images to show you the various steps involved and explain each stage or checkout my comprehensive Brown Butter Guide.

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1. Brown the butter.Turn normal melted butter into a thing of nutty goodness in one simple step. Add the butter to a saucepan set over medium heat and allow the butter to melt. Once melted, the butter will start to foam and bubble (Image 1) and this is the point that the milk solids have separated from the fats and they'll start to caramelise on the base of the saucepan. Watch the yellow butter turn golden and then brown.

Once the butter is browned, take the pan off the stove and pour it into a bowl. The butter can go from brown to burnt quite quickly, so keep an eye on it. The foam will subside in the bowl so don't worry about that. Set the butter aside to come to room temperature- not to the point where it solidifies. We still want it melted...just not hot!(Image 2)

NOTE: Take out a teaspoon of the butter and place it in a small bowl - it is going to be used to brush the pans with later on.

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When you pour the brown butter into the bowl from the saucepan, make sure to scrape out the brown bits from the base of the pan. These bits hold all the flavour and are vital to the overall taste of the madeleines. The nutty smell from brown butter is intoxicating to say the least!

2.Whip the eggs and sugar.To create a light and airy genoise sponge - the eggs and sugar need to be whipped until pale and airy. When you pull the whisk out of the mixture, it needs to leave a ribbon of mixture falling down.(Image 3)

Add the flavouring at this point - in this recipe. We are adding in vanilla bean paste as the predominant flavouring alongside the brown butter. Add it into the mixture and give it a quick mix until combined.(Image 4)

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3.Sift dry ingredientsinto the batter. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt directly over the top of the whipped eggs into the bowl (Image 5). (I'm all about shortcuts and sifting the dry ingredients into separate bowls feels like dirtying another bowl for no reason!!)

4.Pour in the melted butter.By now the browned butter should be at room temperature. Pour it into the batter making sure to scrape in any brown bits that have sunken to the bowl, and fold the butter into the batter(Image 6 & 7).

Thebatter needs to rest and chill in the refrigerator. Cover it tightly with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge. Now you can chill it for a minimum of 2 hours, but ideally, it rests overnight. The flavours intensify, the gluten relaxes and it makes for the best chance to obtain that hump!

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5.Prepare the Madeleine pans.To make sure that the Madeleines batter doesn't stick to the pans when they bake, brush with the teaspoon of brown butter set aside earlier. Make sure to brush all the scallop