The French have a way of making this seem effortlessly chic, and I feel that we all need something to cheer us in the dark cold January days. My answer, for today at least, is to make Madeleines: the soft, luxurious French biscuits which I discovered thanks to watching The Transporter…
They’re deceptively easy to make and delightfully comforting to eat. The only problem is that you really need to have a Madeleine tin – nothing else will really do the job, but you can get these really cheaply (Amazon do one for £6 with next day delivery). As a bonus, once you have the tin you’ll have a great excuse to whip up a batch whenever you feel in need.
It’s worth noting that these are child-friendly too. When I think about making biscuits as a family treat I tend to make kiddy biscuits, but I found that these were scoffed equally quickly (if not more so!).
Chocolate Chip Madeleine Recipe
Makes 8, takes 15 minutes including 8 minutes cooking time.
Ingredients:
60g butter (melted)
1 egg
50g caster sugar
50g plain flour
vanilla extract
A handful of dark chocolate chips
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and butter the Madeleine tin.
Whisk the egg and sugar until thick, then mix in the vanilla.
Add the flour and fold into the egg mixture. Fold in the butter and chocolate chips and spoon into the Madeleine tin.
Bake for 7-8 minutes until they are golden brown and come starting to shrink away from the edges of the tin.
Tip onto a cooling rack and dust with icing sugar.
