Browned butter, Yuzu and blueberry madeleines

Yuzu is a citrus fruit originating in East Asia. It is commonly used in Japan and has a tart citrus flavour similar to a grapefruit. I've tried yuzu sorbet previously in Japanese restaurants and really liked it. I've never tried cooking or baking with it so when Yutaka asked if I wanted to review their Yuzu citrus seasoning I thought why not?

I looked online for recipe inspirations and there were lots to choose from. It's commonly used to make sorbets, creme brulee and cakes and also as a salad dressing or in savoury dishes. I shortlisted a few recipes and then decided to create my own. The inspiration came from my favourite combination of lemon and blueberry. I spotted my madeleine tin under the table which has been neglected for a while hence these yuzu and blueberry madeleines. I remember attending a French glace cherries masterclass where we used browned butter to make financiers which I thought would work well with these so I gave it a go. The results were surprisingly good. The browned butter added lovely flecks of browned butter to the madeleines and gave a nice, slightly nutty flavour. The yuzu complemented the blueberries well and the madeleines tasted light and refreshing.

It's almost impossible to get fresh yuzu fruit in the UK so this yuzu seasoning is a great alternative. It has a lovely aroma to it and is beautifully presented in a little bottle. It comes with a little recipe booklet and there are a few other recipes on their website. 

 

 browned butter 

 you can see the flecks from the browned butter 

 add 4 bluberries per madeleine 

 dust with icing sugar before serving 

 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

Makes 20

2 eggs
100g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
100g caster sugar
100g butter
2 tablespoons yuzu seasoning
80 blueberries

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Place the butter in a saucepan and heat gently until brown.
• Leave to cool slightly.
• In a bowl, mix the eggs, flour, baking powder and caster sugar until smooth.
• Stir in the yuzu seasoning (you can add more to taste).
• Finally add in the browned butter.
• Fill a madeleine tray about 2/3 full with the batter.
• Place 4 blueberries in each madeleine.
• Bake for about 8-10 minutes until it's golden brown. 
• Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Dust with icing sugar before serving. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a bottle of yuzu citrus seasoning for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own. This is not a paid post. 

Browned butter, orange, rosemary and polenta madeleines

One day I decided I wanted to make madeleines. I didn't want to make plain ones so I started looking online for recipes and when I came across this recipe from Baker by Nature, I knew I had to make it.... immediately! I was intrigued by the use of browned butter and the addition of rosemary. I don't often bake with herbs but when I do, they always turn out beautifully and this was no exception.

These madeleines are gorgeous. They have a crunchy texture from the polenta and I love the subtle taste of rosemary which pairs well with orange. The browned butter adds a slight nutty flavour to it. I now feel inspired to experiment with other flavours.

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes which is hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and co-hosted by myself on alternate months. The letter this month is O for Orange.

I'm also sending this to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea is to make everything from scratch.

And to Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.

 adding chopped rosemary and orange zest 

 browned butter 

 ready to go in the oven 

 delicious!

Recipe adapted slightly from Baker by Nature 

Makes 30 madeleines

185g flour

90g butter

30g polenta

4 eggs

165g sugar

zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Start by making the browned butter - place butter in a small pan and melt gently over low heat until brown which will take approximately 8 - 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn your butter. 
• Place eggs in an electric mixer and beat on high speed until almost doubled in volume.
• Add sugar and continue mixing.
• Add vanilla extract, honey, orange zest and rosemary and mix well.
• Next gently fold in the flour and polenta with a spatula/wooden spoon.
• Finally add the browned butter and mix until just incorporated -do not over mix. 
• Spoon into madeleine moulds until 3/4 full and bake for 7 - 9 minutes or until golden brown and the madeleines are shrinking from the side.
• Remove from the tin and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

English Madeleines

As you can tell, I've been on a bit of a baking spree lately! I decided to make another entry for this month's AlphaBakes. I looked through my books for 'E' inspiration and found this in my Mary Berry Ultimate Cake Book - English Madeleines.  I've made French madeleines before but never English Madeleines.  The main difference is their shape - the French ones are traditionally shell shaped whereas the English ones are made in dariole moulds and are covered in jam & dessicated coconut and topped with a cherry.

AlphaBakes is a monthly blogging challenge hosted this month by myself and co-hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. Each month, we pick a random letter and the idea is to bake something with that letter as the main ingredient or name of bake. This month, the letter is "E".  Today is the deadline for Feb AlphaBakes so make sure you've emailed them across.

 I knew I'd get a chance to use my dariole mould one day.

 dessicated coconut, glace cherries and strawberry jam. 

 ready to go in the oven 

 Have everything ready to assemble your madeleines. 

 Use a fork to hold the cake, brush jam over it, roll it in coconut and top with half a cherry.

 Cute little cakes

Recipe from Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book 

Makes 12 madeleines

100g butter

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

100g self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4-6 tablespoons strawberry jam, sieved

50g dessicated coconut

6 glace cherries, halved

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place all the ingredients for the cake in a mixer and mix until smooth.
• Fill the dariole moulds until 2/3 full.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch. 
• Allow to cool completely.
• Trim the bottom of the cakes so they stand independently. 
• Warm the sieved jam in a pan and set aside. 
• Use a fork to spear the base of the cake to hold them.
• Brush them with the warm jam, then roll in the coconut to coat.
• Add half a glace cherry on top to finish.

Sage, Thyme and Emmental Madeleines

My regular readers will know that I love entering blogging challenges. I think I've mentioned previously that sometimes I happen to bake something or I've already planned a bake that will fit. Other times, I will create a recipe specially for the challenge. I really enjoy creating my own recipes which are usually based around the ingredients I want to use. 

Karen from Lavender and Lovage hosts Herbs on Saturday where you can submit any recipe with herbs. I love this challenge as it gets me thinking how I can incorporate herbs into my baking. Last month, I submitted lemon, lime and basil cookies so this month I decided I'd get out of my comfort zone and bake something savoury. I had a few ideas but in the end I decided to bake savoury madeleines. Yes madeleines which are not sweet!! They were a real hit with everyone particularly those without a sweet tooth (I get a few regular requests for savoury bakes!). 

Sage was the predominant flavour here and I may have been a little generous with my herbs so they were quite strong but not overpowering. I chose emmental cheese as it's one of my favourites but the flavour was quite mild. The madeleines smelt amazing whilst baking and they tasted like light cornbread with herby notes. The recipe is based loosely on a Martha Stewart recipe and I am already thinking about different combinations of herbs/spices and cheese to use. They were lovely on their own but would also make a great side dish to your main meal or provide an alternative bread accompaniment.  

As these were made from scratch and with lots of love, I'm entering them to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the theme is to cook from scratch. 

I'm also entering them to Simple and in Season started by Ren from Fabulicious Food and guest hosted this month by Laura from How to Cook Good Food as sage is in season.

 simple recipe with few ingredients = cornmeal, cheese, sage and thyme 

 brown the butter - important for the flavour, do not skip this step! 

 lovely chopped , fresh herbs - a generous portion as you can see!  

 dry ingredients and wet ingredients- mix!

 adding the herbs and cheese 

 ready to go in the oven 

 fresh from the oven 

 I also made some muffins with tomatoes for breakfast. I found these teeny, tiny tomatoes called tomberries at the supermarket - really sweet and juicy!

 I actually preferred them with the tomatoes as the acid helped to lift the flavours. 

 with herbs and cheese 

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

(Makes ~36 madeleines and 8 muffins I think - I can't remember now but it makes a lot of madeleines!! Would recommend halving the recipe if you only want a small batch) 

113g butter

250g plain flour

160g cornmeal (polenta)

50g sugar

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 cups milk

3.5 tablespoons of chopped sage

1 tablespoon thyme

100g cheese, grated 

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Grease and flour a madeleine pan.  
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan until lightly browned. 
• In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
• In a separate bowl, which the eggs, milk and slightly cooled browned butter (you don't want to cook the eggs!).
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix. 
• Finally stir in the chopped herbs and cheese. 
• Pour into a madeleine pan and bake for 8 - 10 minutes. 

Pistachio and rose Madeleines

Well it's back to baking full swing in my kitchen. I will post some pictures soon about all the baking goodies I bought from America and the yummy cakes I had plus a few others. Today, I want to share a simple pistachio and rose madeleine with you. I bought a whole bag of pistachios hence the consecutive pistachio recipes. There may be yet another one as I don't want to waste them! 

I knew I wanted to make a madeleine for AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes as the letter for this month is M. I also wanted to use pistachios. I remember bookmarking a recipe ages ago from one of my all time favourite blogs Not Quite Nigella (I've probably bookmarked her whole blog!) She has adapted this recipe from Nigella and it worked a treat. Nigella says it makes 48 mini madeleines or 24 regular ones. Not Quite Nigella managed 12 regular ones but I only managed 10 (one was smaller as I didn't have enough batter). 

They smelt really fragrant from the rose water and tasted delicious! I'll definitely be making these again as they were quick and simple and bake, looked pretty and tasted amazing. Will remember to make a double recipe next time. 

I am also submitting this to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes 

 grind pistachios and icing sugar..

 ...to a fine powder 

 mixing into the egg and sugar mixture

 add chopped pistachios to the top 

Recipe from Not Quite Nigella

1 large egg
40g caster sugar
pinch of salt
25grams unsalted pistachios + extra to sprinkle on top (optional)
2 tablespoons icing sugar
50g unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing pan
45g plain flour
1 tablespoon rosewater

• Preheat the oven to 220ºC 
• Butter and flour the madeleine pan. 
• Grind the pistachios with icing sugar until it resembles a fine powder. Roughly chop the extra pistachios if using (approximately 1 handful)
• Melt the butter and set aside to cool. 
• Beat the egg, caster sugar and salt until it triples in volume. 
• Add in the flour, butter and rosewater. 
• Spoon the batter into the tins and bake for approximately 6-8 minutes. 

Madeleines

Apologies for the brief silence.  I was planning on updating my blog every day as I baked at least a dozen different things in my last week of work but the odds were against me as I had no internet connection!! Thankfully, it's all sorted now and I'm back online.
I made these lovely madeleines for an ex-colleague's leaving do.  She has decided to relocate to Australia (lucky her!) and I wish her the best of luck.
This recipe is another one from Eric Lanlard and it turned out beautifully. I've never made madeleines before and now I'm wondering why ever not! They are quick and easy to make and so light and delicious. They also look very cute!

 my new madeleine pan from Lakeland 

 ready to go in the oven 

 yum!

 addendum : whilst writing this post, I decided to make another batch, this time with the addition of 1 tablespoon of rose water instead of lemon zest. I can't really taste the rose - perhaps I need to add more? Any suggestions? Hope my new colleagues will like them

Recipe from Eric Lanlard's Home Bake

Makes 12 of size shown (his book says 20 but I wonder if his pan was smaller)

90g unsalted butter plus 2 tablespoon melted butter for greasing

90g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

2 teaspoon clear honey

40g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Prepare your madeleine tin by brushing with melted butter and then dust with flour and tap out any excess.
• Melt the butter and honey together in a small saucepan and leave to cool.
• Sift the flour, icing sugar and baking powder together into a large bowl. 
• Stir in the cooled butter and honey mixture. 
• Add the eggs and stir in, taking care not to over-mix. 
• Fold in the lemon zest.
• Spoon the batter into the moulds, filling each mould 2/3 to 3/4 full. 
• Bake for about 10 minutes until risen and golden. 
• Leave to cool for several minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.