The perfect treat...Delicate French Madeleines à La Crème Au Citron

pudding
The perfect treat...Delicate French Madeleines à La Crème Au Citron

Details

Prep time:
40 mins
Cook time:
45 mins
Suitable for:
Everyone
Serves:
Makes 20-24
Provided by:
Rachel Khoo

This recipe for madeleines à la crème au citron was given to me by a friend who, like me, studied pàtisserie at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. The batter can be made in advance and baked in time for tea.

Madeleines should always be eaten fresh from the oven.

Ingredients

  • For the madeleines: 3 free range eggs
  • 130g of sugar
  • 200g of plain flour
  • 10g of baking powder
  • 1 unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest only
  • 20g of Haughton Honey
  • 4 tablespoons of milk
  • 200g of butter, melted and cooled
  • A punnet of raspberries
  • Icing sugar for dusting
  • For the lemon curd: 1 unwaxed lemon, finely grated zest and juice only
  • A pinch of salt
  • 40g of sugar
  • 45g of butter
  • 2 free range egg yolks

Instructions

  1. Beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and frothy. Put the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl and add the lemon zest. Mix the honey and milk with the cooled butter, then add to the eggs. In two batches, fold in the flour. Cover and leave to rest in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight.
  2. Meanwhile, make the lemon curd. Put the lemon zest and juice, salt, sugar and butter into a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar and butter have melted. Remove from the heat.
  3. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl, then add to the pan and whisk vigorously. Return the pan to a low heat and whisk constantly as the curd starts to thicken. Don’t stop whisking or the eggs will curdle (if the curd starts to boil, take off the heat). Once the curd thickens and releases a bubble or two, remove from the heat and pass the curd through a sieve into a bowl. Place cling film in direct contact with the curd and refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
  4. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Butter and flour a 12-shell madeleine tin. Put the lemon curd into a piping bag fitted with a small, pointed nozzle and place in the fridge.
  5. Put a heaped tablespoon of batter into each madeleine shell and press a raspberry deep into the batter.
  6. Bake for five minutes and turn the oven off for one minute (the madeleines will get their signature peaks), then turn the oven on to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3 and bake for a further five minutes. Transfer the madeleines to a wire rack and leave for a few minutes until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, wash and dry the tin, then repeat the baking as for the first batch.
  7. While the second batch is baking, pop the piping nozzle into the mound in each baked madeleine and squirt in a teaspoon’s worth of lemon curd. Repeat with the second batch, then dust with icing sugar and serve straightaway.

Notes for the cook: if you have a fan-assisted oven then reduce the specified temperature in the recipe by about 15% ~ 1 teaspoon = 5ml and 1 tablespoon = 15ml ~ some ingredients are measured in cups and some equivalents are; 150g, 6oz (1/2 cup) = 120ml, 4fl oz