Daniel Boulud's Madeleines

Every year, my husband and I must have our anniversary dinner at Daniel’s. In fact, we even have our table preference on their system. The food is divine, the service is fabulous and right at the end, they come to your table with these warm madeleines fresh out of the oven, dusted with powdered sugar, in a white cloth basket. It is truly the perfect end to the already perfect meal. So when I saw this recipe, I was thrilled. 

As if you need another reason to make these mini cakes for dessert: The batter can be prepped the day before. So you too, can serve these, fresh and warm out of the oven, after dinner.

Thank you Bon Appetit (February 2015) for sharing this recipe with us.

Special equipment: Three 20-cake mini madeleine pans or one 12-cake regular madeleine pan

Ingredients

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon or orange zest

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted, warm

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

Powdered sugar

Method

1. Whisk baking powder, salt, and flour in a small bowl.
2. Whisk eggs, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, honey, and lemon zest in a medium bowl until smooth. 
3. Whisk in dry ingredients until just incorporated, then which in melted butter until smooth.
4. Transfer batter to a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag and chill for at least one hour. Do Ahead.
5. Preheat oven to 400F. Light coat madeleine pans with nonstick vegetable oil spray and dust with flour, tapping out excess.
6. Snip end off pastry bag into each mold, filling two-thirds full (you may have batter left over).
7. Bake madeleines until edges are golden brown and centers are puffed and lightly spring back when gently pressed, about 5 minutes for mini and 8–10 minutes for regular cakes.
8. Tap pan against to release madeleines. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.