A classic, buttery French delicacy is here to give you the most amazing dessert-eating experience. These Blueberry Madeleines are packed with freshness of blueberries and lemon with a crunchy exterior and melt-in-the-mouth interior.
When it comes to baking, French desserts are the classic recipes to master. They may sound sweet and simple, but it takes a lot of practice and patience to get the correct and perfect outcome.
Today, I’ll be talking about one of the classic French delicacies called Madeleines! Some call them cookies, while some refer to them as mini butter cakes. Either way, they are cute little cakey, crispy bites that you will fall in love with.
What Are Madeleines?
Madeleines are petit, shell-shaped like butter cakes, which have crispy edges, buttery flavor, and light, airy cake from the inside. They have a unique ‘hump’, which is the mark of a good Madeleine. This hump is important to achieve. It’s created because the batter is chilled and put in a hot oven, so the temperature difference creates fast steam inside the batter, bursting it with air.
The outside of the cake Is supposed to be crispy (like cookies), while the inside should be very light (like cakes).
Lemon Blueberry Madeleine Recipe Video Tutorial
Why You’ll Love This Recipe?
- Classic French Delicacy: Madeleine cakes go back as far as the 18th century. This is a traditional French dessert that is still loved by all. It is also considered to be one of the critical desserts to master due to its unique taste and texture.
- Flavor: These madeleine have the most buttery flavor you can get in a cake. I have added fresh blueberries and zest of a lemon to give a pop of fruity freshness to the madeleines. The burst of the berries really tastes amazing.
- Perfect Recipe: There are a few critical points that you must follow to get perfect madeleines every time. This Recipe is curated so you can consistently achieve a great batch of madeleines. Just follow the steps mentioned in the T, and you will not face any trouble making them.
Important Ingredients Used In The Recipe
- Eggs: Being a classic French dessert, an egg is one of the main ingredients and plays an important role in creating the texture along with flavor and color madeleines need. The eggs are beaten to incorporate as much air as possible for the cake to rise.
- Flour: Gluten is, of course, needed to get the strength for all that whipped eggs. You must fold it gently so that the air incorporated remains intact in the batter.
- Baking Powder: Since it’s a cake, it requires to be soft and tender. Baking powder helps rise the batter when baked and provides that soft interior.
- Sugar: The sweetness, caramelized color, and aeration comes from castor sugar.
- Honey: It provides a unique sweet flavor along with a rich golden color to the madeleines. It also helps keep the cake moist from the inside.
- Butter: The amount of butter going in is relatively high, which results in butter being one of the dominant flavors in madeleines.
- Lemon Zest: Freshly grated lemon zest adds a great zing and a pleasant aroma to the madeleines. It also pairs well with fresh blueberries.
- Blueberries: I prefer using fresh blueberries due to the color and juiciness it provides. In case you can’t find fresh ones, you can use frozen blueberries.
- Vanilla Bean Paste: Madeleines are considered a dessert of high class and grade. One cannot use any low-quality ingredients as it can affect the end result. Hence, the vanilla flavor used is also of top-notch quality, which is the pure vanilla bean paste.
- Salt: A dash of salt really helps lifting up the flavour of these mini cakes.
How To Make Blueberry Madeleines?
Preparation: Collect and weigh all ingredients required for the madeleines. Prepare the shell-shaped madeleine mould by greasing it with butter and dusting some flour. Remove any excess flour. Preheat the oven to 180C (OTG mode: upper rod + lower rod + fan) for 15 minutes right before putting the batter for baking.
Beat Eggs and Sugar: In a bowl, take eggs along with castor sugar and beat it for a few minutes using a balloon whisk. Whisk until sugar dissolves slightly, and some aeration is created.
Add Vanilla: Next, add vanilla bean paste to the eggs and mix it well.
Add Honey and Melted Butter: Now, add honey and melted butter to the mixture and combine everything well.
Sieve Dry Ingredients: Take a new bowl and sieve dry ingredients flour, salt, and baking powder in it. Add lemon zest to it and give it a mix.
Add Wet Ingredients: Finally, add milk and the egg mixture to dry ingredients in batches and make a smooth batter. Do the mixing carefully to ensure that the air is not deflated and that no lumps are left.
Freeze: Pour the batter into the prepared Madeleine mould using a piping bag. Fill only up to 3/4th level of the cavity. Add 2-3 blueberries in each cavity and put the batter for resting in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
Bake: After refrigerating the batter, immediately put the tray for baking in a preheated oven at 180C(OTG mode: lower rod only) for 8-10 minutes.
Cool and serve: Once baked, remove the tray from the oven and let the Madeleines cool down for a while. De-mould the little cakes and enjoy them with a hot cup of tea or coffee.
Chef’s Tips For The Recipe
Refrigerating The Batter
The batter needs to be refrigerated for a minimum of 12 hours. Cold batter, when put into an oven at high temperature, gives a sudden shock to the batter, raising it immediately, which is the reason for the beautiful and signature hump of the cake. Do not skip or alter the freezing step.
Variations
You can add any other berry of your choice, like chopped strawberries or Raspberries. Even lemon zest can replaced with orange zest for orange flavour.
Baking Tip
The Madeleines cook fast, but make sure they are baked appropriately. You may do the toothpick test if you seem unsure of its doneness. Also, check for golden edges to confirm that Madeleines has baked.
How To Store Madeleines?
Enjoy these mini cakes when freshly baked. If you do have some leftovers, store them in an airtight box and keep them at room temperature (below 25C) for up to three days.
Refrigerating the same can extend the shelf life to a week.
You can even freeze them for a month. Remember to thaw them and reheat them before serving.
More Easy Recipes
You will enjoy making these delicious desserts for your loved ones. Do give them a try:
Frequently Asked Questions
The story dates back to around 1755 when Madeleines were baked for the son-in-law of the Duke, Louis XV. He was impressed by these little cakes and named them after the baker who baked them, Madeleine Paulmier.
Timing is quite crucial here. Overbaking the batter will lead to a dry texture and may even have burnt edges. While under baking will lead to having a dent in the middle rather than the hump. So, make sure you are baking for the right duration.
Since they are Petit cakes, they are mostly served as high tea desserts. People love to eat them along with coffee. (some even like to dip them in their coffee and eat).
Ideally, they are Petit butter cakes, but due to their similar shape and size, they are also referred to as cookies. So, now they are considered as a cross between a cake and a cookie with crispy edges and a soft center.
