Honey and brown butter Madeleines for mid-afternoon

The smell of brown butter is so nice. Such a unique nutty flavor! Makes the house feel so welcoming. I made the madeleines batter the night before and baked them for mid-afternoon snack. I love the sizes of it. It is so easy to pick up by hand or fork and just pop it into the mouth. Yummy!


G and Z love to have it with homemade vanilla gelato or fresh milk. For CP and I, we love having it with tea or freshly brew coffee.

Madeleines with milk

Madeleines with homemade vanilla gelato

Honey and brown butter madeleines
(Adapted from Dorie Greenspan, Baking from my home to you)

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 4 TBSP sugar
• 1 TBSP light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 6 TBSP unsalted brown butter
• 1 tsp honey

Place the butter in a small saucepan and cook it until the milk solids start to turn brown on the pan and smell nutty. Strain it and let it cool.

Sift together the flour,salt and baking powder. 

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until smooth. Whisk in the dry ingredients, follow by vanilla and lemon zest. Gently whisk in the brown butter and honey. Cover the batter with plastic wrap, pressing it against the surface to create an airtight seal. Chill for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. If your madeleine pan is not nonstick, generously butter it and dust with flour. Set the pan on a baking sheet for easy transportability. Spoon the batter into the molds, filling them almost to the top. Don’t worry about smoothing the batter. It will even out as it bakes.

In the center rack of the oven, bake large madeleines for 11-13 minutes, and small ones for 8-10 minutes, or until they are puffed and golden and spring back when touched.

Remove the cookies by either rapping the pan against the counter or gently running a butter knife around the edges of the cookies. Cool on a cooling rack.

*Note-do not overfill the pans, a little batter goes a long way. The cookies will rise while baking. The recipe yielded 24 cookies for me. Also, my madeleines were done baking at 12 minutes, so make sure you check them.