Madeleines are a sponge like cookie with a crispy edge in a distinct scalloped shape. The shape comes from the specific tin required to make the madeleines. If you don’t have a madeleine tin, a cupcake tin works too. The recipe for madeleines is relatively simple and straightforward. However, the technique and preparation is what differentiates a good madeleine from a “meh” madeleine. I’ve detailed out the main things to watch out for when preparing these cookies so let’s jump in.
Preparation Notes and Watch-Its
If you don’t have self-raising flour, you can make your own using salt and baking powder. Do not just substitute all-purpose here. Having tried this, I can confirm it doesn’t yield consistent results. The batter overflows the tins during baking and there is no “bump” in the madeleines. While I’m not a baking expert, my guess is that having a second raising agent in the batter helps for better, more consistent results. The other raising agent in the batter is the whipped egg whites but due to the chilling and resting of the batter, I don’t think it contributes much to the rise.
When preparing your ingredients, it is important to sift all of the ingredients together to make sure that the sugar, flour, and ground pistachios are well combined. This will make folding in the egg whites easier and hopefully keep a bit more air in the batter and keep your madeleine batter nice and light.
More Notes and Watch-Its
This recipe for madeleines differs from the traditional recipe since it uses ground pistachios which makes for a dense batter. This will limit the amount that they will rise which translates to two things. First is that these madeleines will not get a significant “bump” like traditional madeleines do. Second is that you do not need to fill your tin all the way to the top. If you do, there is a good chance your madeleines will overflow the tin. They’ll still taste delicious but they won’t look too pretty. Check out the before and after below and judge for yourself.
As you can see, overflow was significant on a lot of these. But since I only have one tin and enough batter to make at least two dozen madeleines, I got to adjust on the next batch and try to get it right. I still messed a lot of them up, but I tried. These photos are also from the batch with all-purpose flour, not self-raising so you can see how results were not optimal. Regardless of how they looked and unphotogenic they were, they tasted delicious and went great with my morning coffee so give them a try.
Pistachio Madeleines
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Madeleine tin If you don't have a madeleine tin, you can use a cupcake tin instead, the cooking time will just need to be adjusted.
Ingredients
- 75 grams Pistachios, finely ground
- 220 grams Powdered Sugar
- 75 grams self-raising flour
- 185 grams Butter, melted
- 6 Egg whites
- 20 grams Honey
- 1/2 tsp Almond Extract
Instructions
- Melt the butter gently in a sauce pan. If desired, you can brown the butter, but this is not necessary. Once melted, set aside and leave to cool.
- Sift together the sugar, self-raising flour, and finely ground pistachios.
- Using your stand mixer, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form.
- Fold in the flour mixture with a spatula. Once incorporated, add the melted butter , honey, and almond extract and mix thoroughly.
- Place batter in the fridge to cool for at least one hour.
- While batter is chilling, butter and dust your madeleine tin and place in the fridge to cool as well.
- Heat your oven to 350 deg F when ready to bake.
- Take your madeleine tin and batter out of the fridge and put roughly 3/4 tbps of batter into each section of the tin.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until the madeleines are springy to the touch.
- Let madeleines cool in the tin for a minute then turn the madeleines out and serve immediately.
