Saffron Honey Madeleines

There’s madeleines and then there are madeleines. Saffron honey madeleines answer to no one.

I nearly wrote the heading to read, “There is no such thing as a bad madeleine.” But then I had flashbacks to atrocious crumbly bits, dry hard lumps, and gooey messes that people have insisted are madeleines, and thought it best to not say that. I love them in all shapes and flavors, but the aromatic saffron, the freshness of the orange, the bit of fat from the pistachio, and the sweetness of the honey make these saffron honey madeleines pure perfection.

When I first saw the recipe listing in Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh’s cookbook Sweet I knew I had to have it. Not to mention make everything in the book. This is one of my favorite recipes in the book, though I have adapted it to be a little bit more bold in flavor.

Madeleines are best when consumed immediately post bake but the nice thing about this recipe is that the batter is cut versus mixed keeping them moist longer.

I always struggle to write these blog posts because inevitably people just drone on and on for the sake of their SEO needs and sound dumber than dirt in the process. Whereas, all I want to do is put in an eloquent audio clip with the Cookie Monster voice saying,”This is good! You make it! Ya!”

These are super easy to make and always wow people. I love serving these for any occasion I can with a nice hot cup of masala chai.

How about a few more cookies to try:

Saffron Honey Madeleines

Course: DessertCuisine: Punjabi Fusion, FrenchDifficulty: Easy

Recipe Yield

40

Madeleines

Prep time

20

minutes

Chill Time

1

hour 

Bake Time

9

minutes

Total Time

1

hour 

29

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• 13 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for brushing

• 7 tbsp honey

• 1/2 tsp saffron

• 1/2 vanilla bean

• 4 large eggs

• 2/3 cups sugar, plus 2 tsp sugar

• 3 tsp orange zest, finely zested

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

• 1 cup all purpose flour, plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour

• 5 tbsp pistachios, coarsely crushed

Equipment/Specialty Items

• SaffronSaffron

Directions

• Madeleines:
• In a small sauce pan heat butter, 4 tsp honey, and saffron over low heat until butter is melted. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
• Scrape vanilla seeds into a food processor; discard pod. Or save the pod for vanilla sugar.
• Add in eggs, sugar, and orange zest. Pulse until smooth and combined.
• In a medium sized bowl, sift baking powder, salt, and flour.
• Add the sifted items to the egg mixture. Pulse a few times to combine.
• Add in honey/butter mixture. Pulse to mix in.
• Pour batter in to a bowl, cover and chill for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400° and prepare your madeleine pan.
• Spoon a heaping teaspoon of batter into each mold. Chill any remaining batter for the next set.
• Bake the madeleines until they’re a light golden brown and they spring back when tapped lightly in the center, approximately 9–10 minutes.
• Remove pan from oven and let sit 1 minute before removing madeleines.
• Transfer the madeleines to a wire rack and cool.
• Pistachio Base:
• Melt remaining honey in a small saucepan until very runny.
• Place the pistachios on a plate.
• Brush the honey lightly over shell-patterned side of one madeleine.
• Roll the narrow end of the madeleine along pile of pistachios so you have a strip of pistachios at base of madeleine.
• Repeat with remaining madeleines. Re-heat honey as needed.
• Serve:
• Serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

• Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh’s Saffron, Orange, and Honey Madeleine recipe.

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