I’m a big believer in trying new things, and that often inspires what I choose to bake. One thing I’d always wanted to try making was Madeleine, mostly because I assumed they would be difficult to master. In reality, though, they’re surprisingly simple to make.
Until recently, Madeleines were completely unfamiliar to me, and if I’m honest, I wasn’t even convinced I’d enjoy them. That all changed when someone brought a box into work one day. They were only the Tesco version, but after one bite I was hooked. Light, buttery, and impossible to stop eating, they quickly became one of those bakes I knew I had to try making for myself.
I’d actually bought a Madeleine tin a few years ago when I treated myself to a collection of new baking tins for my birthday, but it had been sitting untouched in the cupboard ever since. So, I decided it was finally time to give it some use. While these aren’t traditional Madeleines, I firmly believe that adding a little chocolate to any bake is never a bad idea.
One thing to keep in mind with this recipe is that the batter needs to chill before baking, so there’s no need to preheat the oven straight away. I turned mine on after the mixture had been chilling for around 55 minutes. I also ended up with a little batter left over, so I simply baked a second batch once the first was finished.
There’s only one word to describe these: delicious. The Madeleines are wonderfully light, soft, and perfectly buttery — exactly how I imagined they should be. Quite a few people asked me what Madeleines actually are, and the best way I can describe them is as delicate little shell-shaped cakes.
Chocolate Chip Madeleines
Ingredients
- 2 Eggs
- 85 g Golden Caster Sugar
- 1 tbsp Runny Honey
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 100 g Self-Raising Flour
- 75 g Unsalted Butter Melted
- 75 g Chocolate Chips Dark, Milk or White
Instructions
- Grease a Madeleine tin with some butter.
- Whisk the eggs with the sugar, honey, vanilla and salt in a large bowl for 10 minutes until very pale and at least doubled in volume, using an electric whisk.
- Sift over and fold in the flour and baking powder, then the melted butter and chocolate chips. Cover and chill for an hour or two, or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Give the chilled mixture a good stir and fill the moulds by three quarters with a heaped teaspoon.
- Place the cakes in the oven bake for 4 minutes.
- Then turn the oven down to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and continue baking for another 3-5 minutes.
- Run a knife around the edge of each one. These are lovely eaten slightly warm, but good for a couple of days thereafter if stored in an airtight container.
Notes
Thanks for reading. Follow me on Instagram