Nestled in these beauties is a baked gooey marshmallow, dipped in a salted caramel chocolate and sprinkled with crushed digestive biscuits. Dunk them in your coffee or shove them straight in, whatever way these Smores Chocolate Madeleines are a sure-fire hit!
Madeleines… light, soft, buttery and small enough to shove in all in one go! Each distinctive clamshell cake is the perfect mouthful. But what is it about these small French fancies that make you cry “oh la la”. Is it that fairy-light genoise sponge? Or maybe it’s the buttery frilly edges that you nibble off first? Whatever it is, they sure are good!
So good in fact that the other week, when it was one of those ‘ot and humid and no matter how many times you turn the pillow over to get the cool side, it just isn’t working and you end up awake all night’ nights… yeah you know one of those kind. The ones that end up with me searching through the usual marketplace apps to see what I can find to buy at 3am.
Oh hello eBay, that’s right I’m looking at you and your temptation with suggested items. How do you know that I don’t have a madeleine mould and that in my sleep deprived state I decided that I must have one, especially as it was free P&P and it would be here in 3-4 days.
I’ve brought all sorts on an “I can’t sleep” whim… there must be a Facebook support group or something out there. Please don’t let me be the only person that this happens to? *heads off to double check*
The Buttery Secret
Now, if like me, you thought that madeleines were just your standard cake batter, just baked in a pretty mould, then you’d be forgiven! After a good deal of research into the art of a madeleine, which of course meant sampling them, I found out that although the ingredients list for a classic madeleine is simple enough, there’s a little bit of work (but not too much, don’t be put off) that needs to be done with a little patience. Number 1 point being… the butter!
Yes, there’s butter in there, for sure… but it’s not the standard creamed method or even an all in one. To get that rich but light buttery texture, it’s melted, and for those of you that like a nutty taste, take the butter past melting and brown it, just like in my Cookie Dough cake, it’s worth that extra step.
In fact, unlike a standard creamed butter and sugar base, this isn’t the core of a madeleine batter; nope. It’s all about getting your eggs nice and fluffy with the sugar instead; making sure they are well beaten until you have a pale and thick mixture, that leaves ribbons when the whisk is lifted up.
Don’t be tempted to combine your dry ingredients until you’ve whisked the eggs for at least 5 minutes, or 7-8 if you can wait, and then its time to start adding them gently.
To rest or not to rest?
When the eggs and dry ingredients have been folded together, it’s time to add the butter; you might feel the urge to mix it all together really well…yes we need to make sure things are, but you don’t want to knock the air out of the batter, so go easy on it. Everything will combine it just needs a little coaxing. Be gentle!
How many times do you fill your cake pans and then put them straight in the oven to bake? All the time, most of the time… yeah me too. For madeleines, apparently, the best thing to do is let your batter rest for about 30 minutes, this helps to thicken the batter up and gives the madeleines that little bump that you get.
Although some recipes say bake straight away and others go for overnight, but the longer you leave and chill that batter, the greater the possibility of that butter solidfying again is, and you might not get that tell-tale bump.
So, do you rest or not? In my recipe below, and I’ve tried it a couple of times, I’ve rested my batter for 30 minutes, and even with the addition of a marshmallow tucked in there, I get a nice fluffy bump. When I’ve rested overnight, I’ve found that the rise isn’t as good; I’m not sure if that is because I’ve kept the batter in the fridge and it’s chilled right down or if it’s the resting time; either way, it’s not worked well for me. So, for me, it’s a 30-minute rest, somewhere cool, but not in the fridge… they have a good bump and still light and fluffy.
Clear on all the rules? Ha! As I said, they look so simple and they are, but there’s a couple of things that make them perfect rather than just ok!
Flavour Combinations
The beauty of these little mouthfuls is that, even though there are a few steps to follow, they’re pretty simple to switch up a notch with their flavours.
My Smores Chocolate Madeleines can easily be tweaked with white chocolate or adding a raspberry instead of a marshmallow. But you can take out the cocoa powder and replace that with plain flour and a teaspoon of vanilla extract for a classic taste, add the zest of a lemon and some poppy seeds for a more citrusy flavour.
Looking for more recipe inspiration?
If you’re looking for inspiration in the chocolate, caramel, marshmallow department, then look no further and give these a click…
Smores Chocolate Madeleines
Ingredients
- 2 Eggs medium
- 100 g Caster Sugar
- 110 g Unsalted Butter
- 65 g Plain Flour
- 35 g Cocoa Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- 16 Mini Marshmallows
- 100 g Salted Caramel Chocolate or Salted Caramel Chocolate Buttons
- 5 Digestive Biscuits crushed
Instructions
- To Make the Madeleines
- In a small saucepan or in a microwave, melt the butter. Brush your madeleine tray or mould with some of the melted butter, and put to one side.
- Add the eggs and caster sugar together into a large bowl, and beat with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer for 5 minutes until they are pale and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl sieve together the cocoa powder, plain flour and baking powder, then gradually fold into the egg mixture. When combined, add the remaining melted butter, and mix together well to form a smooth cake batter.
- Cover the mixture and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes to firm up.
- Preheat your oven to 180C
- To fill the madeleine mould either use a tablespoon and add a heaped spoon of the mixture to each shell or fill a piping bag and pipe the mixture instead. Make sure you don’t overfill the moulds.
- Push a mini marshmallow into the centre of each madeleine.
- Bake the madeleines in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until they have risen and the tops spring back when pressed lightly. Take the madeleines out of the moulds and leave them to cool on a wire rack.
To Decorate the Madeleines
- Whilst the madeleines are cooling, break the chocolate into small pieces and gently melt in a microwave or place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and gradually melt, stirring until smooth.
- Dip each madeleine into the chocolate, so that it covers the pointy end and then set back on the wire rack to set. Before the chocolate sets, sprinkle over the crushed digestives.
- Keep them in an air-tight containers for 1-2 days, they dry out quickly!
Notes
Nutrition
DISCLAIMER
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
Tried and tested and perfected!