Since I cannot travel to New York City anytime soon I decide to make the mini madeleines myself at home. The recipe for the madeleines is in the book, Chef Daniel Boulud, published by Assouline in 2002. However I prefer to use the recipe by Dominique Ansel in his first book, Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes, published by Simon & Schuster in October 2014. The reasons are Ansel’s recipe is more detailed and the quantity of ingredients are given in grams instead of volumes (tablespoons and teaspoons). Furthermore Boulud’s recipe is probably not the one used at the restaurant. For instance, the recipe calls for the mixed batter to be rested for just one hour. Typically a batter with baking powder benefits from resting overnight.
Ansel was the pastry chef at Restaurant Daniel from 2006 to 2011. He once said, “I had eight items on the dessert menu when I was at Daniel, and do you know what people remember the most? The madeleines at the end of the meal. People couldn’t get enough of them. If there is one item that I have made over and over again, it is madeleines. Every night, every table, madeleines, madeleines, madeleines.”
Ansel still serves the little cakes at his eponymous shops in New York City. He bakes them à la minute. In other words, the customers have to wait for around five minutes after the order is placed. Just like at Daniel, the madeleines are served hot and need to be eaten right away. The madeleines are time and temperature sensitive confections as the texture of the cakes will change after only a few minutes out of the oven.
Madeleines are not hard to make and Ansel lists the recipe in the beginner’s section. The recipe doesn’t require any special equipment except for the madeleine mold. I bought the 20-mini madeleine nonstick mold from Williams Sonoma. The recipe doesn’t require a standing mixer, just some whisking by hand.
Ansel’s recipe is available on the MasterClass website and he even demonstrates parts of the recipe in a short video. Ansel’s recipe is very easy to follow. I deviate from the recipes in a few places. The recipe calls for melting the butter, brown sugar, and honey in a medium pot over low heat. But sometimes I just use the microwave instead. Often times, I only use lemon zest instead of lemon and orange. After whisking the wet ingredients to the dry mixture, I don’t cover the bowl with a plastic wrap. Instead I prefer to just pour directly into a large uncut piping bag and place it in the refrigerator to rest overnight.
On the next day or the following day (the batter keeps well for a few days), preheat the oven to 350°F with convection. This is the only annoying part of the recipe for a home baker. It actually takes a lot longer to preheat the oven than to actually bake the madeleines. When the oven is ready, pipe the batter into the molds, roughly three quarters full. The amount of batter required in each mold of the pan is the only part of the recipe that is not super precise and takes some practice. The madeleines take around 5 minutes to bake in total.
Once the pan is out of the oven, the best way to unmold the madeleines is to just bang the pan against the counter. Afterwards, dust powder sugar through a sieve on top and eat immediately.
When I taste the mini madeleines, they bring back memories of my meals at Restaurant Daniel in New York City, Maison Boulud in Beijing, and Dominique Ansel Kitchen in New York City. It’s amazing how a little flour, sugar, egg, butter, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and honey can create such magic.
