Julia Child’s Madeleines are yet another example of her amazing recipes. This recipe is from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook. This cookbook, which I’ve had for a long time, is one of my all-time favorites.
Everything I’ve ever tried from The Way to Cook has turned out incredibly well. The Madeleines are no exception.
Ingredients for Julia Child’s Madeleines
The ingredients for these madeleines are really nothing special. They include eggs, sugar, flour, unsalted butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract and salt. What’s special is how the ingredients are put together.
Making the Madeleines
As a first step, I melted the butter over medium heat. I continued heating the butter to a boil over medium heat until it browned lightly. This took about 10 minutes. I then put the pan into an ice water bath until it was cool, but still liquid.
While the butter was cooling, I lightly whisked two large eggs in a 2-cup measure. Then I poured ¼ cup of the eggs into a bowl and reserved the rest of the eggs for use later in the recipe
I added the sugar and the flour to the egg, and beat it until it formed a paste.
The first time that I made Julia Child’s Madeleines, I beat the mixture until it was crumbly. While the madeleines were good, they didn’t have the characteristic hump on top. Since the first time, I continue beating the mixture until it forms a paste. Then, I let it rest for 10 minutes before moving to the next step.
For the next step, I added the remaining eggs, salt, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract and melted butter.
I beat the mixture on high for about a minute until everything was well combined. At this point, the thickness of the batter was somewhere between that of cookie dough and cake batter – sorta like mashed potato consistency.
I sprayed the cups of my Madeleine pan with non-stick baking spray. Even though it’s a bit pricey, I always use Bak-Klene ZT non-stick spray. It’s similar to Baker’s Joy.
I used a 1 ¾-inch ice cream scoop to partition out the batter for the Madeleines. As you can see from the picture, because of its consistency, the batter didn’t spread out into the Madeleine pan. This didn’t present a problem at all since it ultimately did spread out and fill the cavities of the pan once in the oven.
Into a 350°F oven the Madeleines went for about 14 minutes. After 14 minutes, Julia Child’s Madeleines were perfectly cooked. They were golden brown around the edges and had the characteristic Madeleine hump.
After the pan was removed from the oven, I dumped the Madeleines out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, the Madeleines were ready to be eaten. Sometimes, I will sprinkle them with confectioners’ sugar but this time I decided to leave them plain.
Either way, the Madeleines were outstanding. The hint of lemon from the zest and the juice really put them over the top! From now on, it’s Julia Child’s recipe that I’ll use. Yum!
If you like these, check out my Lemon Madeleines, they’re Susan’s favorites.
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Recipe
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Julia Child's Madeleines
Equipment
- Madeline pan
Ingredients
- 2 Large eggs, lightly whisked in a 2-cup measure, divided
- ⅔ cup (4.75 ounces, 135 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (5 ounces, 142 grams) all-purpose flour
- 4 ½ ounces (1 stick, plus 1 Tablespoon, 128 grams) unsalted butter
- Zest of ½ lemon (about ½ teaspoon)
- ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- Confectioners sugar for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray Madeleiine pan with non-stick baking spray. Set aside.
- Measure ¼ cup of the eggs into a bowl, reserving the rest for a later addition. Add the flour and sugar; beat on high until a thick paste forms. Let rest for 10 minutes. (See Tip 1)
- Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil, and let the butter brown lightly, about 10 minutes. Place the pan in a ice water bath until the butter is cool, but still liquid.
- Add the remaining egg, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, salt and butter to the batter. Beat until thoroughly blended., about 1 minute.
- Place a generous tablespoon of batter into each of the Madeleine cups. (See Tip 2)
- Bake at 350° F for 14 to 15 minutes, or until cakes are lightly browned around the edges, humped in the middle and slightly shrunk from the cups. Unmold onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- When cool, turn the shell side up and dust with confectioners sugar if desired. Yield: 1 ½ dozen.
Tips/Notes
- When beating the egg, sugar and flour, you may notice that the mixture is quite crumbly at first. Keep beating and it will turn into a thick paste.
- I used a 1 ¾-inch ice cream scoop to fill each of the Madeleine cavities. It was the perfect amount.
- The Madeleines will keep in the refrigerator for a day or two in an airtight container. Also, they freeze extremely well.
