French Recipe: Les Madeleines

These small cakes, traditional of the Lorraine region, are the emblems of children’s snacks in France. These sweet and soft delights are often enjoyed with a cup of tea or hot chocolate and are very easy to make! You will nevertheless need suitable, shell-shaped moulds. As tradition would have it, it was a woman named Madeleine who offered the Santiago de Compostela pilgrims cakes in the shape of scallops, giving the cakes their name and specific shape.

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 150g sugar
  • 200g flour
  • 2 dessert spoons of orange flower water
  • 8g baking powder
  • 100g melted butter
  • 50g milk

Method

1. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and put aside.
2. Mix the eggs with the sugar until the mixture lightens in colour. Add the orange flower water and 40g milk.
3. Add the flour and the baking powder, followed by the butter and the remaining milk; leave for fifteen minutes.
4. Butter the Madeleine moulds and pour in the mixture (not to the very top, as the Madeleines will rise in the oven!).
5. Bake in the oven at 240°C (Gas Mark 8) and lower the heart to 200°C (Gas Mark 6-7) after five minutes; leave in the oven for a further ten minutes. Keep a good eye on the Madeleines while they are baking!
6. Remove from their moulds as soon as they come out of the oven.

Bon appétit !