Remember the episode in the American Sitcom, Friends, when Rachel hired a male nanny?
Ross: Did Rachel tell you we hired a male nanny?
Monica: Yeah! I think that’s great!
Ross: Oh really? Did she tell you he plays the recorder, recites poetry and bakes Madeleines? (sarcastic tone)
Monica: Oh… How are they?
Ross: (stares dreamily into space) Lighter than air…
I still remember Ross’s face when he dreamily described the madeleine. 😀
The first time I made madeleines was in 2009. My mom obviously loved it as she is into buttery bakes. My brother kept popping one after another in his mouth; despite protesting by saying that I’m trying to give kuih bahulu a fancy name by calling it Madeleine! Yes, I do realize that madeleine does resemble the traditional bahulu but it is not exactly the same. The traditional Bahulu uses quite a lot of sugar and eggs and most recipes do not contain butter, where else madeleine has quite a substantial amount of butter, and therefore it tastes really rich.
Madeleines are a classic, but citrussy additions are common in madeleine recipes. I personally used lemon zest for this, but orange zest would work just as well. The smell of these Delicious Lemon Madeleines when they were baking away…it made my heart sang a happy dum dee dum dum. ♥
Even though optional, it is best to chill the batter before baking. Letting the batter rest in the refrigerator ultimately helps the madeleines to rise up taller in the oven. Taller means fluffier madeleines and you get that hump which is the characteristic of a madeleine. In fact, the batter keeps well for a few days in the fridge, so you can have fresh madeleines baked daily, just like what I did.
These flavour bursting Lemon Madeleines yields a delicious and tender crumb with a fragrant, buttery flavor. Madeleines are fairly easy to tackle and also it is a whole lot cheaper to make your own. Best of all, with this recipe, you can make certain modifications and create a WHOLE lot of flavors! Give it a try!
- 3 whole eggs
- 130g sugar
- 120g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 60ml melted butter
- Zest from 2 lemons
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
- Beat eggs with sugar until pale yellow. Add lemon zest.
- Mix dry ingredients to the egg mixture and give it a mix.
- Pour in melted butter and vanilla essence. Mix till well combined.
- Refrigerate the batter at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Lightly grease a madeleine pan with baking spray or butter.
- Spoon 1 tbsp of batter into the center of the madeleine pan.
- Bake for about 10 minutes or until slightly golden around edges and centers look set and slight hump has appeared. Allow to cool slightly and remove from the tin and allow to cool.
- Once cooled completely and dust with powdered sugar and serve.
- Batter can be made 2 days ahead of time.
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