White Chocolate Madeleines Recipe

Well, as I am truly obsessed with all forms of French baking these little beauties have become a firm favourite in our house. Traditionally they are served plain, being flavoured simply by the lemon zest but at the request of my sweet toothed husband I have added small pieces of white chocolate which melt into tiny pools and make these madeleines insanely moorish and perfect, served as part of an afternoon tea or with coffee at the end of a dinner party.

They are incredibly easy to make and take about 10 minutes to prepare, as the batter has to rest in the fridge for about 3 hours (or even overnight). You will however, need a madeline tin and though I am not a fan of buying special tins and moulds, you will keep re-using this once you discover how satisfying and lovely these French shell shaped plump treats are!


For the batter

80g of really soft butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs (free range or organic)
Zest of 2 lemons
Pinch of sea salt
100g of plain flour
1/2 tea spoon of baking powder
Good quality white chocolate (either buttons or chopped into small pieces)

Madeline tin 
Piping bag - this is not essential but I tend to be quite messy so it helps give them a professional finish

To start with, cream the butter with a table spoon of the caster sugar. Whisk the eggs with remaining sugar, lemon zest and salt until light and fluffy.

Gently fold in the flour and baking powder until just combined.

Scoop out a third of the batter and beat vigorously with the butter. Transfer into the remaining mixture and fold in very gently (you want to keep as much air as possible in the mixture)

Using a spatula scrape out the batter into a piping bag and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 210C fan. Butter and flour the madeline pan.

Snip a tiny hole from the tip on the piping bag and pipe the batter three - quarters of the way up into the moulds (if you don't have a piping bag you can use a table spoon to spoon to mixture in).

Press a couple of tiny pieces of white chocolate into each madeleine.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180C and bake for 13/14 minutes or until the edges are deep golden brown and the domes are starting to brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a couple of minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Serve with a dusting of icing sugar and a cup of Earl Grey tea. Bon apetit!

Ana x