Savory madeleine recipe with herbs and a horseradish cream
I created this savory madeleine recipe with herbs to be served with a horseradish cream you can dip them in. Or, you can even top the cream with some caviar! It all depends on how you roll!
I have this thing with madeleines. When I first arrived in Paris over 10 years ago, I didn’t speak a word of French. On my first day, I went down to my fancy Parisian neighborhood bakery in the 16th arrondissement. I saw these beautiful, warm madeleines nestled cozily in a little basket. The name brought up fond memories of the book ‘Madeleine’ that I used to read when I was little. After taking my first bite I knew it was going to be a life-long love affair.
Since then, I’ve tried pretty much every single recipe for madeleines that I could get my hands on.
Over the years, I’ve ended up with a version that’s pretty much flawless. It’s largely inspired by the recipe in the book Le Dessert Etait (Presque) Parfait by my friend Pascale Weeks.
There are just a couple of essential rules to follow. Once you do, you’ll end up with perfect madeleines every time!
The golden rules of making madeleines:
- Always make sure to let your batter rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. Ideally, you fill your madeleine pan with the batter and put the entire thing in the fridge.
- A bump on a madeleine is a sign that you’ve done everything right! The French won’t even touch a madeleine that has no bump, because it’s considered to be a failure.
- So how do you achieve that famous bump? It’s the result of a thermal shock between the temperature of the (hot) oven and the cold batter and tray.
- That’s why it’s extremely important to start with a hot oven, and after a few minutes turn down the temperature.
- Feel free to open the oven door to let some of the heat out if your oven takes a while to cool down. Even though I finally have a great oven, I still keep the door open for about 15 seconds right after turning the temperature down to 180C.
- Make sure to take the baked madeleines out of the tray immediately. Then place them on a flat surface or cutting board for a couple of minutes. Then, and only then, should you transfer them to a cooling rack. If you do that before, you’ll end up with ugly lines imprinted on the bottom of the beautiful shell pattern. And you definitely don’t want that!!
Choosing a madeleine tray: my recommendations
- When it comes to choosing a madeleine pan, I recommend going with a metal, non-stick pan like this one.
- Or, you can go with a silicone one like the one I used here, made by Silpat. I absolutely love this mould because you don’t need to butter the tray before adding the batter. Also, with soft silicone, you’ll find it very easy to take the madeleines out once they’re baked.
- However, if you cannot find a Silpat mold, I highly recommend sticking to an aluminum one. Cheap silicone molds will not give you the same result. While they might be easier when it’s time to take the madeleines out, you’ll never get a crisp outside.
Recipe & serving tips
When it comes to this savory madeleine recipe with herbs, it’s a recipe that I created in order to highlight an assortment of fresh herbs that I love the most: coriander, chives, and parsley. You can either make these as normal-sized madeleines or mini ones like I did. Then you can dip them or slather them in the horseradish cream. You can even sprinkle some salmon roe or caviar on top of the cream!
The savory madeleine recipe with herbs:
Savory madeleines with herbs
Ingredients
For the madeleines
- 120 g lightly salted butter
- 60 g sugar
- 50 g Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 15 g vegetable oil
- lemon zest from a 1/4 lemon
- 130 g flour
- 4 g baking powder
- 5 tbsp fresh coriander, chives, parsley finely chopped
- salt, pepper
For the horseradish cream
- 4 tbsp Creme fraiche d'Isigny (or sour cream or Greek yogurt)
- 1 tsp horseradish
Instructions
- Start by melting the butter and then set it aside to slowly come to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together.
- Add the vegetable oil and lemon zest and whisk.
- Add the flour, baking powder, grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Whisk.
- Add the room-temperature melted butter. Whisk.
- Whisk in the herbs very gently, just until they're incroporated into the batter.
- Butter your madeleine tray with some softened butter. Fill each madeleine 3/4 of the way up with the batter. Put the tray in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 210C.
- Once the oven is hot, take the pan out of the fridge and place it directly in the oven.
- Bake for 6 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 180C. Keep the oven door open for 10-15 seconds to help the internal temperature come down.
- Bake for another 5-7 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Immediately remove the madeleines from the tray onto a cutting board or flat surface, to cool down for a couple of minutes. Then, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the madeleines are cooling, make the horsradish cream by combining the cream with the horseradish, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste and mixing well.
[FRENCH]
On pourrait dire que je suis assez obsédée par les madeleines. Depuis mon arrivée en France il y a 10 ans, j’en fait une fixation! J’ai du essayer toutes les recettes possibles !
Finalement, j’utilise la même recette tout le temps! C’est une recette que j’ai trouvé dans le livre de ma copine Pascale Weeks, Le Dessert Etait (Presque) Parfait.
Il y a juste deux règles à respecter:
1. Il faut laisser reposer la pâte au frais avant la cuisson.
2. Il faut démarrer la cuisson à four chaud et ensuite baisser la température. C’est comme ca que vous allez avoir cette jolie bosse !
Pour le moule, je vous conseille de prendre un moule antiadhésif en métal, comme par exemple, celle la.
Sinon, moi dans cette recette j’ai utilisé un moule a mini-madeleines de la marque Silpat, dont je suis vraiment fan. On a pas besoin de beurrer le moule avant de mettre la pâte, et c’est très facile de démouler les madeleines. En plus, on arrive a avoir les bords croustillants!
Si vous ne pouvez pas acheter un moule Silpat, je vous conseille d’éviter d’acheter un moule en silicone pas chère. Certe c’est plus facile de les démouler, mais vous n’aurez pas le côté croustillant de l’extérieure de la madeleine. Et ca, c’est vraiment dommage !!
La recette des madeleines salées aux herbes:
Ingredients
Pour les madeleines
- 120 g beurre demi-sel
- 60 g sucre
- 50 g Parmesan, fraîchement râpée
- 2 oeufs
- 2 jaunes d’oeuf
- 15 g huile végétale
- le zest de 1/4 citron
- 130 g farine
- 4 g levure chimique
- 5 càs de coriandre, persil, et ciboulette frais, hachees tres finement
- sel, poivre
Pour la Crème au raifort
- 4 càs de Crème fraîche d’Isigny
- 1 càc de raifort
Procedure
- Faites fondre le beurre demi sel et laissez-le tiédir.
- Dans un grand bol, fouettez les oeufs, les jeunes, et le sucre.
- Rajoutez l’huile, le zeste de citron et mélangez.
- Ensuite, rajoutez la farine, la levure chimique, le Parmesan, le sel et le poivre, et mélangez.
- Rajoutez le beurre. Mélangez.
- Doucement, incorporez les herbes fraiches.
- Beurrez votre moule avec un peu de beurre mou. Remplir chaque madeleine a 3/4, ensuite placez le moule au frigo.
- Préchauffez le four à 210 C.
- Une fois que le four est chaud, sortez le moule du frigo et mettez le directement dans le four.
- Faites cuire pour 6 minutes, ensuite baissez la température à 180 C. Laissez la porte du four ouverte pour 10-15 secondes, pour aider la température à descendre.
- Enfournez pour encore 4-6 minutes, ou jusqu’à ce que le bord soit doré et un couteau insérée délicatement ressort sec.
- Démoulez immédiatement d’abord sur une planche pour quelques minutes, et ensuite transférez sur une grille pour refroidir complètement.
- Entre temps, préparez la crème en mélangeant le raifort avec la crème fraîche d’Isigny, et en assaisonnant avec du sel et du poivre.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means if you buy something through those links I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!
If you’re looking for more savory recipes, check out all of my original recipes here.
I really hope you like this recipe! Feel free to modify with whatever fresh herbs you have on hand!