Recipe from Cédric Grolet
Adapted by Dorie Greenspan
- Total Time
- 25 minutes, plus chilling
- Rating
- 4(632)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Cédric Grolet, the pastry chef of Le Meurice hotel in Paris, is famous for his Instagram feed, which has nearly a million and a half followers, his tattoos and his title: Best Pastry Chef in the World. Mostly, and most rightly, he’s famous for his elegant pastries, so I was surprised when he asked me if I’d tasted one of his simplest, his madeleines. Small sponge cakes baked in shell-shaped molds (metal pans give you the best color and crust), madeleines are known for the impressive bump that develop on their tops. These madeleines, adapted from a Grolet recipe, are made with brown butter and flavored with Earl Grey tea and honey. Like all madeleines, they benefit from a rest in the refrigerator before they’re baked. (Good for the mads, convenient for the baker.) If you can arrange it, serve the madeleines just minutes out of the oven — it’s when their fragrance and texture are at their peak. —Dorie Greenspan
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Ingredients
Yield:About 20 madeleines
- 2cups/255 grams cake flour, plus more for dusting
- 1tablespoon baking powder
- 3tablespoons full-flavored honey
- 1cup plus 2 tablespoons/255 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons), plus more for greasing
- ¾cup plus 1 tablespoon/165 grams granulated sugar
- 2bergamots or Meyer lemons (or 1 lemon and 1 clementine), finely zested
- 1tablespoon loose Earl Grey tea, finely chopped
- 3large eggs plus 1 large egg white, at room temperature
- 5tablespoons/75 milliliters whole milk, slightly warm
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (20 servings)
226 calories; 11 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 30 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 19 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 72 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Sift together the flour and baking powder. Put the honey in a medium heatproof bowl, and place a strainer over the bowl.
Step
2
Bring the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. As the butter cooks, gently swirl the pan. The butter will foam, then bubble, then turn golden. In 5 to 7 minutes, when the butter browns (it will be the color of hazelnuts, and have that aroma as well), pour it through the strainer onto the honey. Some dark bits will slip through the strainer, and that’s fine! Stir to blend.
Step
3
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, zest, tea, eggs and egg white, and milk until combined; whisk 1 or 2 minutes more after the ingredients are blended. Add the flour mixture in three to four additions, whisking the ingredients together gently. You’ll have a thick batter that will fall back on itself in a ribbon. Switch to a spatula, and gradually stir in the warm butter-honey mixture. The batter will have a beautiful sheen. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface, and refrigerate the batter for at least 8 hours or up to 2 days.
Step
4
When you’re ready to bake, center a rack in the oven, and heat it to 425 degrees.
Step
5
Butter and flour a regular-size madeleine pan (or coat it with nonstick baking spray); do this even if the pan is nonstick. Use a slightly rounded tablespoon of batter to fill each shell. Don’t worry about leveling the batter, as it will even out in the oven. Cover, and refrigerate any remaining batter.
Step
6
Bake the madeleines until the cakes are golden and the bumps spring back when gently prodded, 11 to 13 minutes. Unmold immediately by rapping the pan against the counter. Serve now ... or don’t. The madeleines stale quickly, but that just makes them better for dunking. If you’re baking more madeleines, be certain to cool the pan between batches.
Ratings
4
out of 5
632
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Cooking Notes
Ronnie
The method I've been using for years differs a bit:(1) Steep tea leaves in browned butter for 10 min; strain. Great flavor, no leaves in batter.(2) My batter is a true genoise: no baking powder, heat egg-sugar-honey mixture to 120F and beat in a mixer till ribbon stage and cool, 10 min. FOLD flour in (do not whisk). Mix 1 cup of batter with butter; then fold butter in (easier to incorporate).(3) Reserve juice from lemons to make a thin glaze. Dip cookies while warm.Raves every single time.
david
to what texture does one whisk the sugar/egg mixture? to say a madeleine is like a genoise indicates, at least to me, that the sugar/egg mixture is whisked to a ribbon. one or two minutes wouldn't be enough. or maybe it doesn't make that much difference as long as the sugar/egg mixture is well blended. baking powder will take care of the bump, but genoise depends on the air whisked in for leavening.
Gia S
I have used actual earl grey tea leaves in shortbread cookies and the flavor is so good. What i do so that the tea leaves aren't bothersome I actually whirl the leaves with the flour in the food processor until smooth and you get flavor but no leaves
Juliet Jones
I have always used a few drops of Bergamot Essence to make madeleines, it can be purchased at Whole Foods or similar. I've never heard of adding actual tea leaves, however finely chopped, to a madeleine.
Sasha
My go to recipe for madeleines is Daniel Boulud's.https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/daniel-bouluds-madeleines-51263610
marcella
11 min is too long and it burned the bottom of the madelaines. 9 min would have sufficed. also the amount of batter can easily make 30-32 maadeleines.
baking temp/time
Agree with Hailey. The recipe made mine too dark. 375F for 9 minutes yielded a better color. I also ground my tea leaves in a coffee grinder before adding to the batter, though it did darken the overall color. I could probably use a touch more earl grey flavor, so might use more if I do it again. I also used the lemons to make a lemon juice and honey glaze, and brushed it on after.
Hailey
Rather than adding earl grey into the batter I steeped 2 bags in the browned butter and an additional one in the milk. The earl grey flavor was a bit too subtle so next time may try adding the leaves or getting bergamot essence. Only chilled the batter for 2 hours and they were fine. Also cooking time was off for me. My oven runs at a pretty consistent temperature and these were burnt after 8 minutes. I found 8-9 minutes at 375 works best!
Just Me
Sasha, thank you for the link to Daniel Boulud's recipe! I've saved it to my NY Times recipe box :) I've had madeleines that have different flavors such as this recipe, but this is not a classic recipe for a madeleine. For those in NYC, walk past the line of people waiting for cronuts and walk right into Dominique Ansel's bakery where the madeleines are made to order. Yum!
Robin Henry
I made these twice following the directions very carefully and I am an experienced baker. They were dry and not that flavorful. Definitely not worth the extra work required. There are other much better Madeleine recipes out there; don’t waste your time with this one.
Madeleine Baker
425 is much too high. Madeline’s came out burned on the bottom and raw in the middle, only had them in for 9 minsZ
Earl Grey Madeleines
Used Lady Grey tea and all purpose flour. Chilled for only 4 hours. They were fabulous.
Agatha
made this just now, its delicious, not too sweet and fresh. The only problem is by giving butter and flour to a pan (mine's already non-stick) ruined the shell part, it became not shiny and just take so much time to cook (17 mins, 10 mins with foil on top just to get the bottom part to cook). Tried another batch without any coating and it came out perfect in 11 mins.
grasshopper
I added a tsp vanilla and 1 more lemon to the zest. I used ground tea from 2 Tazo tea bags that already had bergamot infused. The flavor landed where I want it. I agree on timing and will try 375 for 9 minutes next time. At 425, I was pushing it at 8:30. Also will try the lemon glaze! Thanks!
Kevin
A tbsp of baking powder seems like too much to me. Based on other recipes, including Dorie's own, a tsp is more like it.
NC baker
We used 1:1 Gluten free flour and they turned out as perfectly as the original version. Didn’t drain the butter, sift the flour, or finely chop the tea leaves (they flew all over the kitchen and this was very expensive Parisian tea that could not be wasted for fear of maternal backlash). Still tasted delicious!!
Jeffsee
Too hot or too long or both, our oven usually runs long, these scorched at the 11 minute mark.
Burned, Tasteless
Cookies came out burned when I cooked them for the listed time and those that weren't burned were dry and tasteless. There are better recipes out there that are more worth the time and effort.
Angela W.
Delicious! I recommend grinding the earl grey tea in a spice grinder and working the tea and the citrus zest into the sugar with your fingers before adding the eggs and the milk. It makes the earl grey flavor come through better.And 9 minutes is the perfect baking time. Anything less and the bumps won’t spring back when touched. Anything more and they’re burned.
alex k
The Madelines taste good, but no early grey flavor and I followed the recipe as is. If you want earl grey flavor, I’d try some of the comments to see if you can get it to come through more.
baking temp/time
Agree with Hailey. The recipe made mine too dark. 375F for 9 minutes yielded a better color. I also ground my tea leaves in a coffee grinder before adding to the batter, though it did darken the overall color. I could probably use a touch more earl grey flavor, so might use more if I do it again. I also used the lemons to make a lemon juice and honey glaze, and brushed it on after.
Shelleyeatz
I inhaled 5 of these as soon as they were cool enough to eat. Such simple yet tremendously enjoyable treats. I visited Cedric Grolet’s shop at Le Meurice, where I had some the best pastries I’ve ever had in my entire life (the Paris Brest! The Fruits! The Flan!) highly recommend his shops and this recipe!
Sarah
delightful! used Namaste brand gluten free flour, and they turned out phenomenally! Very delicate flavor.
marcella
11 min is too long and it burned the bottom of the madelaines. 9 min would have sufficed. also the amount of batter can easily make 30-32 maadeleines.
marcie
I know this sounds like sacrilege, but I do NOT need another pan in my tiny apartment kitchen. There must be a way to make these delicious treats in another more conventional vessel! Thoughts?
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