I’m on a madeleine kick having made four different versions recently, determined to find a good recipe. I’ve never been fond of madeleines because they were so dry, that is until I had one from Ble Sucre in Paris. Fortunately the recipe is available courtesy of Bon Appetit Magazine and last year’s Paris issue with a cover shot of baguettes so delicious, I bought the magazine because of that.
I gave the recipe a try and the first thing I noticed was how ridiculously easy it was to put together. Typically madeleines are made similarly to genoise cake where you beat the eggs with sugar in a mixer until till triple in volume and you carefully fold in the dry ingredients so as not to deflate the batter. Not for this recipe. Everything is whisked together by hand, first the wet, dry then melted butter. That’s it.
The key it seems is in letting the batter sit overnight so the leavening has time to incorporate and react. After I baked them the following day, I was ecstatic over the height on the bumps. I have some strange obsession with these madeleine bumps. Some of the edges on the madeleines got a little burnt but not horribly so and I like the crispness.
After letting them cool for about 5 minutes, I dipped the bumpy sides into an orange-powdered sugar glaze. The glaze hardens and gives a nice shiny coat to the madeleines. As far as taste, they are fluffy and moist. From what I remember of Ble Sucre’s madeleines, the cake was denser and the coating of glaze was thicker so the recipe is not exactly the same but close.
Glazed Madeleines
bonappetit.com
I used a heaping tablespoon per madeleine cavity. The recipe makes 20-24.