Brown Butter Almond Madeleines
Are Almond Madeleines a cookie or a cake? I don’t care! I only know that they’re so easy to make and even easier to eat.
Classic French Madeleines are pretty straightforward. Really, they are more of a tiny sponge cake than a cookie. The classic cookie is flavored with browned butter and a little lemon zest. The result is a delicate and delectable little treat.
For this twist on the classic cookie, I wanted to highlight the subtle nuttiness of the browned butter. I replaced half the flour with almond flour and added a little almond extract to round out the flavor.
In my opinion, yes, you do need to use a real madeleine pan to make the iconic shell shape.
Click here to see how to see step by step photos of how to make Almond Madeleines:
If you love this recipe, try one of these other classic cookie recipes: Sable Cookies, Crisp Lemon Thin Cookies, Almond & Anise Biscotti, Lemon Filled Shortbread.
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Brown Butter Almond Madeleines
Ingredients
- 6 oz unsalted butter
- 2 ½ oz all purpose flour (½ cup, see note)
- 2 oz almond flour (½ cup)
- ⅛ teaspoon table salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large yolk
- 5 oz granulated sugar (½ cup plus 2 tablespoons)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Melt 6 oz unsalted butter in a small saucepan. Continue heating the butter until it foams, bubbles and the milk solids fall to the bottom of the pan. Allow the milk solids to brown. Pour the browned butter into a small dish, leaving the browned milk solids in the pan.
- Reserve a tablespoon of the browned butter to grease the Madeleine pan. Set aside the remaining butter to cool but not solidify.
- Whisk together 2 ½ oz all purpose flour, 2 oz almond flour, ⅛ teaspoon table salt and set aside.
- Whisk 3 large eggs, 1 large yolk, 5 oz granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon almond extract until the eggs are pale, aerated and leave a "ribbon" when the whisk is drawn through the mix. Fold in the flour with a balloon whisk. Fold in the browned butter. Set the batter aside to rest for 1 hour
- While the batter is resting, preheat oven to 400 °F. and brush a madeleine pan with reserved butter then coat with flour.
- Place a heaping tablespoon of batter into each cookie mold.
- Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown and the center springs back when pressed. Best eaten slightly warm or within a couple of hours of baking.
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Delicious from the first time I made them, wonderful recipie
This is the traditional French recipe, not the American “adapted” butter Madeleines. When I ate Madeleines from the French bakery in Manhattan during my youth, they were always had the almond flavor, and the recipes back then always had crushed almonds or almond extract.