Madeleinekakor med mandel (almond madeleines) are delightful little cakes with a lightly crisped outside and a soft squidgy centre. They go well with coffee, ice cream and other desserts. Although originally French they have become very popular in Sweden too.
Ingredients
110 g (½ cup) unsalted butter
1 tbsp maple syrup or another dark syrup
3 large egg whites (90 g)
100 g (¾ cup) icing sugar (powder sugar)
50 g (½ cup) ground almonds (almond meal)
45 g (5 tbsp) plain flour (all-purpose flour)
¼ tsp fine sea salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp butter for greasing madeleine trays
Method
Brown 110 g (½ cup) of butter until it is a nice nut-brown colour then pour it into a bowl, add the syrup and stir to mix thoroughly.
Whisk the egg whites and the icing (powder) sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes with an electric whisk, 8 minutes by hand).
In a separate bowl mix the ground almonds, flour, salt and baking powder.
Add the browned butter and the dry ingredients to the egg whites a bit at a time. Alternative between adding the butter and the dry ingredients, stirring thoroughly after each addition, until everything is thoroughly combined, but do not over mix.
Cover the bowl with clingfilm (food wrap) and rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat the over to 200ºC (400ºF, gas 6, fan 180ºC).
Melt a tablespoon of butter and use it to generously brush the madeleine tins. Fill each indent two-thirds full with the cold mixture. (If you are baking in two batches, return the mixture to the fridge to keep cool until needed.)
Bake for 4 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 175ºC (350ºF, gas 4, fan 160ºC) and bake for another 3 or 4 minutes until the madeleines look golden in the middle and a light brown colour at the edges.
Immediately remove the madeleines from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack. Eat when still warm or allow to cool completely before glazing.
Browning butter
Browned butter adds an extra dimension to madeleines and is fairly easy to do if you follow our tips. The idea is that the butter is heated a little past its melting point, which results in the milk solids in the butter browning and creating a wonderful nutty aroma.
- Heat a thick bottomed saucepan on medium heat. Add the butter cut into slices or cubes so that it heats evenly and all the butter melts at the same time.
- Once the butter has melted whisk it frequently. It will produce quite a lot of white foam initially, but then the foam will begin to subside.
- Continue whisking and heating the butter, but watching it carefully. Lightly browned specks will begin to form at the bottom of the pan and it will give off a gorgeous nutty aroma.
- Once the butter is a rich golden colour and has a nice nutty aroma, remove the butter from the heat, to stop it from cooking any more, and pour it into a bowl.
Butter is easy to brown provided you watch it carefully and keep whisking it. If you neglect it and end up overcooking it, so that the butter becomes black, I am afraid you will have to discard it and start again!