If there’s one thing I’ve become famous for among my friends and family, it’s madeleines. One year I gifted boxes of them for the holidays and any time I mention a new idea for a flavor, I get offers of payment, taste testing volunteers, etc. The latter tends to happen any time I bake, but the simple madeleine remains the perennial favorite.
The delicate, not quite cake, not quite cookie with a crunchy exterior is a veritable blank canvas once you get the basic recipe down. French baking has a reputation for being fussy and unachievable for the home baker, but I’ve found that as long as you approach the recipe with confidence (and a couple thorough full read throughs of the recipe beforehand), it’s actually more approachable than you think.
From start to finish this should take no more than a half hour (add in an extra half hour for chilling if you’re looking for that classic madeleine hump) and believe me when I say you’ll have a hard time eating just one.
Honey Butter Cornbread Madeleines
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 85 g honey 1/4 cup
- 60 g greek yogurt 1/2 cup
- 75 g unsalted butter 5 tbs
- 120 g milk (any is fine, dairy or non dairy) 1/2 cup
- 120 g all purpose flour 1 cup
- 160 g cornmeal 1 cup
- 10 g baking powder 2 1/2 tsp
- 1/4 tsp salt
Honey Butter Topping
- 4 tbs of unsalted butter softened
- 1 tbs regular or hot honey
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F
- Grease a madeleine pan with either cooking spray or brush each mold with butter
- Melt 5 tbs of butter in a pan on medium heat until browned. It should smell nutty and have some darker solids, but be careful that it doesn’t burn. Set aside to cool
- Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, honey, greek yogurt, and milk until combined
- Slowly add in your cooled butter, making sure to continuously whisk so eggs don’t cook
- Fold in your dry ingredients and mix until just combined
- Optional, but recommended: chill batter for 30-40 minutes in fridge to encourage classic madeleine hump. This occurs from the drastic temperature change of the cold batter hitting the hot oven. You can skip this if short on time, but they will have flatter backs. Still delicious!
- Scoop or pipe batter in to madeleine molds
- Bake for 10 - 12 minutes depending on your oven
- Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack
- While still warm, brush madeleines with honey butter so they melt and adhere
- Serve warm with an extra sprinkle of flaky sea salt if desired
To Make the Honey Butter
- Add softened butter, honey, and pinch of salt to a bowl
- Using a handled or stand mixer, whip ingredients until combined
- Adjust taste to desire and brush on still warm madeleines