Lemon Glazed Madeleines
Lemon Glazed Madeleines
A lemon glazed madeleine is a classic pastry and one of my favourites! Perfectly soft sponge, with a sweet, citrusy lemon flavour. The thin lemon glaze shatters as you bite in for the perfect contrast of texture.
This was a recipe I wrote for my first book Bake It Better but upgraded slightly with the lemon syrup, which keeps them so soft. I find madeleines can dry out quickly after baking, so this syrup makes a real difference. Make sure to use fresh baking powder too for a big hump!
Ingredients
Method
Into a small saucepan, add the butter and lemon zest. Melt it over a low heat and then set aside to cool slightly.
Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and icing/powdered sugar. Make sure your baking powder if fresh.
Whisk together the eggs and pour them over the dry ingredients. Whisk until just combined and the mixture is smooth.
Finally pour in the melted butter mixture and whisk together until just combined and there are no streaks of butter.
Cover the surface with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, pre-heat the oven to 240C/465F non-fan assisted. Lower by 15C/60F for a fan assisted oven.
Lightly grease a madeleine tin with soft butter then sift over plain/all-purpose flour, tapping out the excess.
Remove the chilled madeleine mixture from the fridge and add it into a piping bag. Pipe the mixture into the mold, filling it up about 2/3 of the way. Do not fill them right to the rim of the tin. You should have enough batter for exactly 12 madeleines.
Place the tray into the centre of the oven and immediately drop the temperature to 180C/355F non-fan assisted.
Bake the madeleines for around 10-11 minutes until they have a nice hump and are an even golden brown colour around the edge. As the temperature is quite high, you want to avoid cooking them for too long and creating very dark, caramelised edges.
While the madeleines bake, add all of the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Set aside to cool slightly.
When the madeleines are baked, immediately remove them from the oven and tip the tray up on its side and tap it firmly against your work surface to pop them out.
Immediately slot them back into the pan. As they are quite soft, if you place them onto a wire rack, the rack will leave an indent and damage the shell design.
One by one, lift the madeleines up and lightly soak both sides with the syrup, using a pastry brush.
For the glaze, into a medium bowl, add the icing/powdered sugar, and then whisk in lemon juice. Start with the juice of half a lemon, then add in more, in small increments, until you have a thick, runny glue like consistency.
Use the pastry brush to paint a thick glaze over the shell side of the madeleine. I like to let the glaze set until it forms a slight crust (takes about 15 minutes). It shatters slightly as you bite into them, giving a sharp, sweet lemon hit!
These can also be made a day ahead of time. Bake the madeleines, soak them with the syrup and then once cool, store in the fridge, tightly wrapped in clingfilm. The next day, bring them to room temperature and add the lemon glaze. The syrup keeps them really nice and soft. I have even frozen them after adding the syrup and then brought them back to room temperature and they still stay soft, and taste great!
Hello! Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂 where can I buy the pan? Does it need to be a certain material? Thank you!
Any generic metal madeleine tin is great from amazon. If you want the best one – a korean brand called Woojung make it!