These pistacchio madeleines (Madeleines a la Pistache) are little cakes that are a take on the traditional French recipe for baked shells of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs.
Watching Madeleines bake is almost as fun as watching macarons, but with slightly less tension. The thrill with Madeleines is... "will there be a bump?"
What is the "bump?' It's the the little pregnant middle of the cookie/cake that grows as the little cakes bake. I pretty much park myself in front of the oven and watch with the oven light on to see if things will turn out.
Fortunately, these Madeleines achieved a wonderful bump!
In fact, these Madeleines achieved the perfect "bump."
About Madeleine pans:
The traditional madeleine pan is made of tinned steel and is not nonstick. I have one of those pans, but when I found a nonstick version that wasn't overly dark, I grabbed it.
There are lots of dark nonstick Madeleine pans available, but the bottom of the cake browns really quickly, more quickly than the top.
I finally found one that releases the Madeleines easily without overly browning the cookies.
Don't worry if you can't find this one. Just be sure to adust the bakng time depending on the pan you own.
True confession: I have 5 different Madeleine pans, including 2 mini madeleine pans. No matter the pan you have, these cookies are delicious.
If you love Madeleines as much as I do, be sure to check out my Chocolate Hazelnut Madeleines, my Genoise Madeleines, my Pumpkin Madeleines, and my Mini Hazelnut and Cocoa Nib Madeleines.
These Pistacchio madeleines are infused with pistacchio paste. I purchased some pistacchio paste, but you can also make your own. Just be sure to use raw unsalted pistacchios and remove the brown skin from the pistacchios.
The best way to remove the skin is to use the same method as with these hazelnuts.
Boil them briefly in a mixture of water and baking soda and them peel off the skins by rubbing the pistacchios with your fingers. Next, process the pistacchios in a food processor until you have the consistency of nut butter.
These madeleines are moist and delicious. They are like little cookie cakes with a wonderful pistacchio flavor.
Tips for making these pistacchio Madeleines:
First, be sure to chill the batter overnight before baking.
Second, when you add the batter to the pan, smooth it out with an offset knife.. but don't get too worried about perfection. The batter will level out in the oven.
Third, don't just turn these out onto a cooling rack. If you do, you will end up with the humps marked with the criss cross cooling rack pattern. Instead, use your fingers or a thin knife to gently remove the cookies from the pan and transfer them to the cooling rack.
Welcome to another month of Baking Bloggers, hosted by Palatable Pastime. This month, our them is Madeleines. I'm excited to see everyone's!
Baking Bloggers
Madeleines
- Acorn Madeleines with Cinnamon Sugar from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
- Chocolate & Orange Madeleines from Making Miracles
- Chocolate Madeleines from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Eggless Rose Madeleines from Magical Ingredients
- Green Chile Cornbread Madeleines from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Key Lime Madeleines from Palatable Pastime
- Lemon Madeleines from Sneha's Recipe
Be sure to watch out for the egg measurements. This is an adaptation from the Bouchon Bakery, where weight matters!
Pistacchio Madeleines
Ingredients
- 57 grams (1/4 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 3/8 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 69 grams (1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon) whisked eggs. About 1 1/2 eggs.
- 46 grams (3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons) granulated sugar
- 55 grams (1.9 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for brushing the pan.
- 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
- 1 1/8 teaspoons honey
- 46 grams (3 tablespoons) pistacchio paste
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix the eggs and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Mix for about a minute on medium.
- Increase the speed to high and mix for an additional four minutes, until the mixture doubles in size.
- In a small saucepan, cook the butter, brown sugar, and honey until the sugar has dissolved, about a minute. Cool to room temperature.
- Fold half of the dry ingredients into the stand mixer. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and continue to fold until fully combined.
- Place the pistacchio butter into a medium bowl and set aside.
- Add the butter/sugar/honey mixture to the flour mixture and fold until smooth.
- Fold 1/4 of the batter into the pistacchio paste to lighten. Fold in the remaining batter.
- Cover the batter with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Brush the madeleine pan with lots of butter and then freeze the pan to set the butter.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Drop the batter by 1 generous tablespoon into 12 cavities of the pan, about 20 grams each. Spread the batter with an offset spatula until smooth. Tap the pan against the work surface.
- Bake for about 8 minutes on convection bake, or 9 minutes on "regular" bake. The tops should be lightly browned. The bottom will be more browned.
- Remove the madeleines from the pan and cool on a wire rack.
- These cookies are best the day they are made. Store in an airtight container.
Calories
97.00Fat (grams)
6.63Sat. Fat (grams)
2.91Carbs (grams)
7.40Fiber (grams)
0.44Net carbs
6.96Sugar (grams)
5.31Protein (grams)
2.52Sodium (milligrams)
70.81Cholesterol (grams)
54.49Recipe adapted from Bouchon Bakery
Nice bumps LOL....This was my first time making madeleines and having not ever even eaten one I thought I had screwed up when the bumps happened LOL
ReplyDeleteThat's hysterical!
Deleteah, madeleines and "the bump" - when I was preparing for a certain tent, I had to make two batches of madeleines - and I knew the BUMP was key. Unfortunately I was eliminated right before that episode... I was so excited about making them, but... it was not to be .... I love your pistachio version.
ReplyDeleteAwww. Thanks so much Sally. You were robbed by that silly challenge!
DeleteI love these pistachio butter cakes.. they are delicious.
ReplyDeleteTotally!
DeletePistachio butter!!! Noooo!! Something else I'm going to have to try soon! :D
ReplyDeleteIt's really good, even the unsalted version. I could eat it by the spoonful.
DeleteThey look pretty and they are "The Perfect Madeleines". Love the use of pistachio better and can't wait to try this recipe.
ReplyDelete