Ginger & Clove Madeleines
These ginger and clove madeleines are a simple twist on French MOF President Philippe Urraca's recipe from his most recently published opus. The recipe yields madeleines with a perfectly rounded dome. These madeleines will surely indulge your sweet tooth and may even elicit a Proustian moment of nostalgia.
Ingredients
- 150 ml milk
- 2 vanilla beans
- 3.5 eggs
- 200 g white sugar
- 60 g honey
- 330 g flour
- 12 g baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 150 g butter, melted (≅20° C)
- 2 tbsp ginger, minced
- ½ tsp cloves, freshly ground
Instructions
Preparing the batter
- Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until hot, but not boiling. Infuse the split and scraped vanilla beans in the heated milk.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar and honey on medium speed. In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, ground cloves and salt. Then, add the sifted dry ingredients to the egg and sugar mix and continue to mix on medium speed until the mixture is homogenous. Slowly add the infused milk and minced ginger to the mixture while continuing to mix. Finally, add the melted butter and mix until the batter has a shiny, ribbon-like texture. Pour the batter into a pastry bag and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. According to the chef, leaving the batter in the fridge overnight yields an even more homogenous mix.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 210°C with a flat, rimless baking sheet inside. Butter the surface of a metal madeleine plan. Then flour the surface and tap the pan against the counter to remove the excess flour.* Pipe the batter into the madeleine pan, filling each well two-thirds full. Place the pan over the heated baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove the madeleines from the pan while still hot and cool on a rack. Once cool, the remaining madeleines that you have managed to resist eating can be stored in an airtight container.
Notes
*For the second batch, I didn’t bother flouring the pan, and they turned out cleaner looking.