Hazelnut Madeleines with Rum Chocolate

Madeleine is a traditional small cake from Commercy and Liverdun in northeastern France. They are small sponge cakes with a shell-like shape, traditionally flavored with just vanilla, but some also include lemon zest, which is also one of our the favorites.

Madeleines!! We are ridiculous, disproportionately excited by these little cakes. Sunday was a pretty amazing day; my house was full of endless conversation and baked goods. We baked, photographed, shared stories, and surprisingly ate! I’ll post all the recipes eventually, but for today, with autumn finally here and a cup of tea in hand, these hazelnut madeleines are just perfect.

So we wanted to start my Christmas inspired baking with simple, sweet, light and airy madeleines and they are unbelievable yum! This one has hazelnut infused with the sweetness of nuts giving it a wonderful twist and the sweet and spicy aroma of hazelnut, rum and vanilla are just delightful! The basic madeleine is just the right kind of sweet with a cup of hot coffee right? This one infuses nut and alcohol to give  a delicious twist to the French Madeleine.

Personally, we think they are miniature versions of cupcakes which look like cookies! What do you say? Not really sure why they are classified as cookies! Yes, we know some cookies are soft and gooey as opposite to crunchy and chewy but Madeleines are light and airy, soft and spongy like cake! Yup we are going to say they are like butterfly kisses sent from a cupcake Ok so here is how we made them!

Ingredients |

• 15g melted butter, for greasing the tray
• 15g flour, for flouring the tray
• 155g caster sugar
• 155g butter
• 80g flour, sifted
• 80g hazelnut meal
• 3 jumbo eggs (approx 200g)
• 1tbsp Chocolate alcohol

Method |

Melt the butter over a gentle heat, keep heating until the butter turns golden brown. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl. This stops the cooking and prevents the butter burning, leave to cool a little.

Put the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer if you have one, or use a handheld electric mixer, add the sugar and whip until thick and pale. Add the flour and ground hazelnuts and gently fold in. Add the Chocolate alcohol and melted butter, mix until combined.

Cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for somewhere between 2 hours and overnight. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Generously butter your madeleine tray, dust with flour then tap the tray on your bench to remove the excess
using a piping bag, pipe the batter into the trays, filling each shell 3/4 full, if you don’t have a piping bag just use a couple of spoons.

Bake in the center of your oven for 12-15 mins, the madeleines should be brown and crisp around the edges, and spring back when lightly pressed in the center. Tip the little cakes onto a cooling rack,  allow to cool for five minutes or so dip the base of each cake in the rum chocolate then press into the chopped nuts, consume as soon as possible!

How to make the rum chocolate?

• 120 ml thickened cream
• 1 tablespoon chocolate alcohol

Whisk the thickened cream into soft peak for about 20 minutes. Add in the chocolate alcohol and whisk it for another 10 minutes. To store it, cover with the lid and store in the fridge, it will keep for 2 weeks.

Some tips from us (the sister) before we end this post;

• Use room-temperature eggs as they expand in volume when beaten. If you forget to take them out of the fridge, submerge chilled eggs in warm water for several minutes.
• Rest the batter in the refrigerator for at least one hour. 3 hours is ideal. I usually just refrigerate the batter overnight. It helps to create the bump to form.
• Don’t be shy on butter when coating the mold. It helps you take Madeleines out of the pan after baking as well as achieving nice golden color.
• Use a 1 Tbsp. measuring spoon to transfer the batter. It’s the easiest way to measure the exact amount of each mold and not overfill.

Share with us your making! Take a photo of yours, send us an email, tag us on Instagram, tweet us, anything. We love to see yours!

xoxo, Joe.