Orange and Brown Butter Madeleines

The madeleine or petite madeleine is a traditional cake from Commercy, a commune of the Meuse département in northeastern France.Madeleines are very small cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions. Their flavour is similar to, but somewhat lighter than, pound cake, with a pronounced butter-and-lemon taste.Aside from the traditional moulded pan, commonly found in stores specialising in kitchen equipment and even hardware stores, few tools are required to make madeleines. Traditional recipes include very finely ground nuts (usually almonds) as well as common cake ingredients such as flour, eggs, butter, sugar and vanilla.

Yield:

Makes 12

Ingredients

1. 6 eggs
2. 250 grams sugar
3. Zest of 1 orange
4. 2 tsp vanila extract
5. 225 grams cake flour, sifted
6. 110 grams almond flour
7. 1 tsp baking powder
8. 1 tsp salt
9. 250 grams butter, browned and cooled

Directions

1. Start by making the brown butter. Place the butter in small saucepan and heat until it starts to bubble and sizzle. Watch it closely as it will start to brown soon after the sizzle diminishes slightly. When it smells like roasted nuts and the bottom of the pan is brown, remove the pan from the heat, strain the butter and allow it to cool.
2. Place the eggs, sugar, orange zest and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whip until light and thick, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, almond flour, salt and baking powder. Mix until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Slowly add the brown butter as the machine is running. Let butter incorporate into the batter and continue adding it.
3. Remove bowl from mixer and fold with a spatula to make sure all ingredients are well mixed. Let it rest in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
4. Pipe batter into madeleine molds. Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes (when "bumps have appeared), reduce oven to 375F and continue baking for 5 more or until browned.

Notes