Passion fruit and Ginger Madeleines

I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for new bits of kitchen kit. There’s so much you can do with the basics, but a cool whisk or tin can make things super fun! When I was in Bruges over Christmas I found myself wandering around loads of kitchen shops, most of which would have huge displays of little kitchen bits and bobs all over the walls. This is where I came across this really cute madeleine tin – a little bit smaller than the traditional ones but perfectly sized to fit in my oven at uni! Until then I’d made madeleines before in cupcake tins, which works really well, but if you want the classic shell-shaped treats I’d really recommend finding yourself a tin. You can get all kinds of ones from the classic for about £20 to small and sweet ones like this which I picked up for around £4!

I think the best way of working with madeleines is to pack them full of flavour. They of course taste great on their own, but I think they’re a great canvas to decorate with lots of flavour! These are gently spiced with a womph of ginger, but have a cooling passion fruit curd centre and a drizzle of chocolate to give that extra lil bit of pazazz. If you’re not a fan of that though you could try lemon curd and white chocolate instead, or dipping the madeleines in melted chocolate and then hazelnuts once cooled?

Recipe

Makes 12

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 50g Butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
• 50g Plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 Egg
• 50g Caster sugar
• ¼ tsp Baking powder
• ½ tsp Ground ginger
• 50g Dark chocolate, to decorate

For the Passion fruit Curd

• 13g Cornflour
• Juice of 2 Passion fruit
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice
• 100ml Water
• 1 Medium egg yolk
• 30g Caster sugar
• 15g Butter

Method

1. Begin by making the passion fruit curd. Put the cornflour, passion fruit juice and lemon juice into a bowl and whisk together to make a smooth paste.
2. Put the water into a small pan and bring to the boil. Pour the water onto the passion fruit mixture, whisking constantly until combined. Pour the mixture back into the pan, place over a medium heat and cook whilst whisking until the mixture thickens.
3. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the egg yolk, sugar and butter until smooth. Set to one side until needed.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Brush a little of the melted butter into the Madeleine tray. Then dust the tray with a little flour and shake out the excess.
5. To make the madeleine batter, begin by putting the eggs and sugar into a bowl. Using an electric whisk the mixture until pale and fluffy.
6. Sift the flour into the mixture and then add the baking powder, ground ginger and melted butter. Whisk everything together and then leave the mixture for 5 minutes to rest.
7. Pour the mixture into a piping bag and then leave in the fridge for another 10 minutes to rest.
8. Pipe the batter into the prepared mould (you want the mixture to be filling about 2/3 of each hole) and then bake for 8-10 minutes in the oven until lightly risen and golden brown (they cook very quickly so keep a close eye on them!).
9. When baked take a knife and make a small incision in the top of each cake. Then pipe a little of the passion fruit curd into the hole in each one until you see it pouring out a little. It’s best to do this when the cakes are still warm as it’ll let the curd seep into them.
10. Whilst the cakes are cooling melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
11. Drizzle the cakes with the melted chocolate and then serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x