Lemon and Poppyseed Madeleines

This is a slight twist on the traditional Madeleine, with the inclusion of poppyseeds adds a lovely crunch.

I had baked and shared these Madeleines on Instagram a while back, but have been so busy with my day job that I have not had time to share the recipe – my humblest apologies!

I love making madeleines. They are actually quite easy to make, can be made ahead (actually, they need to be made ahead) and need to be eaten as close to coming out of the oven as possible – I mean, who wants to wait hours for cakes to cool?!

WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT MAKING THESE?

• The eggs and sugar need to be whipped for a good 10 minutes. They should quadruple in volume, and be pale and fluffy. It is really important to aerate the mixture.
• Once the eggs and sugar have been whipped, gently fold in the remaining ingredients so as to not knock out the air in the eggs.
• It is crucial to rest the batter for at least two hours. The signature hump is derived from baking a cold batter in a hot oven.
• Some people put the madeleine batter in a piping bag. It is easier than spooning it into the tin. I do however feel, that it deflates some of the air in the whipped eggs – your call!
• For the madeleines to release easily, brush the tin with melted butter. Then sift over some flour and thoroughly tap out excess. The flour helps it to release easily. Too much flour however, leaves a residue on the baked madeleine which does not look as attractive.
• If the madeleines do tend to stick, run a knife around the rim to loosen them.
• Turning the oven to 220 degrees celcius initially, helps the madeleines to rise up, as opposed to spread. This also helps them form their hump.
• To prevent them from burning, you want to reduce the heat to 180 degrees celcius, thereafter.
• Due to the fact that there is very little fat in the batter, they do dry out fairly quickly, so best to eat them as close to fresh as possible.

MADELEINES ( MAKES 24)

• 190g butter
• 2 Tbs lemon zest
• 30g poppyseeds
• 4 large eggs
• 160g castor sugar
• 10ml vanilla essence (2 tsp)
• 170g cake flour
• 10ml baking powder (2 tsp)
• 2.5ml salt (1/2 tsp)

TO DECORATE

• 40g crushed pistachios
• 80g white chocolate, melted

METHOD

1. Place the butter and lemon zest in a bowl and melt.
2. Once melted and cooled, stir in the poppy seeds.
3. Whilst the butter is cooling, place the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl and, with an electric mixer, beat on high speed until thick and pale. The batter dropped from the beater should leave a trail on the batter (ie. ribbon stage).
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and by hand, gently fold the dry ingredients into the sugar and egg mixture.
5. Lastly fold in the melted butter until just incorporated.
6. Cover the bowl with clingwrap and let it sit in the fridge for at least two hours, but ideally overnight.
7. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celcius. Brush your madeleine moulds with melted butter and dust with flour, so that the entire mould is coated. Make sure to tap out the excess flour.
8. Spoon the batter into the madeleine moulds. It should rise two thirds of the way up the sides of the moulds.
9. Bake the madeleines for 5 minutes at 220 degrees celcius .
10. Then drop the temperature to 180 degrees celcius and bake for another 5 minutes. The madeleines should begin to brown around the edges and spring back when tapped lightly in the middle.
11. Wait for around 3 minutes, then release them from the tray. Once they are out of the tray, you can allow to cool for a bit if you are adding the chocolate and pistachio.
12. Dip the tips of the madeleine in white chocolate and sprinkle with crushed pistachios.

Recipe by adventureswithsugar.com