Here I give these delicious French pastries an even more flavorful twist with nutty brown butter and a sweet, tangy passion fruit glaze. You can substitute the passion fruits with oranges, tangerines or lemons or leave out the glaze altogether. I love passion fruit. It grew in abundance in Sri Lanka and I used to love eating that very juicy, very tart, very fragrant fruit out of hand. We’d also often make a passion fruit curd or this passion fruit mango compote and use it as a spread on toast. Recently, I bought a few of these gorgeous fruits online and used them in a couple of great recipes. There were still a few left in the fridge before Mr. K and I went off on a mini-vacation a few weeks ago, and I did NOT want to leave them behind. I wanted to do justice to this fruit which I never get to taste in this part of the US, so I decided to make some easy Brown Butter Madeleines and then dipped them in an amazing Passion Fruit Glaze! 🙂
Madeleines
I’m sure Madeleines need no introduction. Choux pastry, croissants, crème caramel, crème brûlée etc. aside, they are one of my favorite French desserts. They are known just as much for their unique scalloped shell shape with ridges on one side and a smooth hump on the other, as for their pillowy-soft, light texture in the middle with browned, crisp edges! They are a little similar to genoise sponge (like this mulled wine cake), but has more butter – giving them a beautiful buttery taste as well. And since they are made in that special scallop shell shaped pan, they also get those delightfully crisp edges while still being light as air. To elevate the taste even further, I browned the butter to add another dimension of nutty flavor, turning these into the MOST ADDICTIVE madeleines you’ll ever have! 🙂 These soft sponge cakes with those crisp edges are absolutely perfect on their own (maybe with just a sprinkling of powdered sugar on top?), but of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone. So I coated them with this sweet, tangy passion fruit glaze! That combination of buttery and nutty with a little sweet and a lot tangy, makes these brown butter madeleines with passion fruit glaze honestly addictive, and I’m not using that word lightly. We literally cannot stop until the whole batch disappears. They are a perfect tea-time snack, or great for the holidays too to serve your guests! And if you don’t have access to passion fruits, no worries, just use an orange or lemon or tangerine glaze instead. Or leave out the glaze altogether or simply dust them with some powdered sugar.
Recipe tips to make perfect madeleines
While madeleines are very easy to make, they do require some time, patience and of course the special madeleine pan. Once the batter has been made, it tastes better if you let it rest in the fridge, covered for a few hours (up to overnight, or even upto 2 days). This works out fine because the madeleine pan also needs a little bit of attention to make sure the little sponge cakes don’t stick to it. I coat the cavities with TWO thin melted layers of butter (or one thick layer), and a dusting of flour and then let the pan sit in the fridge (overnight) or freezer (for an hour or so). So take your time to do these two things. Sure, it may make you a little restless, but if you want to enjoy the most incredible soft, buttery, sponge cakes aka brown butter madeleines, this is all worth it! Those madeleines will thank you for your patience, and they’ll pop right out of the pan when they’re done, all too eager to share with you their silky soft deliciousness! Ha!
Storage
Which brings me to my last tip. These babies are best eaten fresh, warm, on the same day you make them! You could keep them in the fridge and maybe they’ll be OK the next day, but then you start losing that soft center – crisp edges contrast. Which is about half the reason why these brown butter madeleines are so addictive. But one thing I often do is to make a double batch of the batter and then bake one batch (12 madeleines) or as many as I need, and then cover the rest of the dough and keep it in the fridge. Especially if I know I’ll be using it the next day, or in the freezer if I want to keep it for a few days. This way I can enjoy fresh, warm madeleines every time! 🙂 If you liked this brown butter madeleines with passion fruit glaze recipe, don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address on the side bar (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
