Honey and Vanilla Madeleines Recipe

A madeleines recipe is lovely for Mother’s Day, wedding showers, tea parties, baby showers, and birthdays too. These cake-like cookies are baked in a Madeleine tray. These honey and vanilla madeleines are light and fluffy.

A madeleines recipe for Honey and Vanilla Madeleines is a perfect choice to have with a cup of tea. Light and fluffy, they are a mix between a cookie and a cake. Honey and vanilla madeleines make any occasion a special one.

The perfect treat to enjoy with tea

If your afternoon (or morning) snack has coffee as the star rather than tea, you’ll find some sweets in our recipe list that are right up your alley. This group is not fussy and neither are these madeleines: they fit in with coffee, tea, and milk or any variation thereof.

The madeleine pan

You will need the traditional madeleine baking pan to create the easily recognized shape of the madeleines.

British Tea Time Recipes

Since we are talking about foods for teatime I had to go my ever-reliable favorite website for British baking: BBC Good Food. Yes, madeleines recipes may have originated in France but the British have perfected tea to an art form.

Other tea time dessert ideas include jam thumbprint cookies and any cake or cookie topped with this lemon curd made in the Vitamix.

What is a madeleine?

A madeleine is a cross between a cookie and a cake. It’s a type of French butter cake that is a sponge cake. Each individual sponge cake is baked in its on mould in a madeleine pan which is a little like a muffin pan. 

This vanilla madeleine recipe takes the madeleine’s standard sponge cake and accents it with honey and vanilla. I doubled the amounts of both honey and vanilla so that their delicate flavors didn’t get lost in the finished product. You’ll see that the honey and vanilla madeleines brown to a golden color very nicely.

The side you see in the photos is actually the underside (the part touching the pan when baking). The tops are still a lighter shade of yellow. They are soft and bounce back to the touch. I like the contrast of the two sides and the baking pan moulds give these little sponge cakes a particular elegance that makes them perfect for teatime.

You’ll find the original recipe  on BBC Good Food.

Do madeleines need icing?

Madeleines are beautifully little cakes to serve just as they are without any icing or frosting. You may add a dusting of confectioners sugar for a touch of added sweetness and decoration. Because these delicate treats are a cross between cookies and cake, they don’t fall into either category. 

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Yield: 12

Honey Vanilla Madeleines

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A madeleines recipe is lovely for Mother’s Day, wedding showers, tea parties, baby showers, and birthdays too. These cake-like cookies are baked in a Madeleine tray. These honey and vanilla madeleines are light and fluffy.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Bake Time 12 minutes

Total Time 22 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs, separate yolk and whites
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons vanilla
• 3 tablespoons confectioners sugar (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray your madeleine pan with baking spray.

Mix the sugar, butter, 2 egg yolks, honey and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer. Fold in the flour. Separately whip the egg whites until fluffy and somewhat stiff. Gently fold them into the batter.

Fill the madeleine pan then bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let cool in the pan briefly before moving to a wire rack. Dust with confectioners sugar if you wish.

Notes

Recipe source: BBC Good Food site

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 178Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 67mgSodium: 74mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 0gSugar: 13gProtein: 2g

This data is provided by Nutritionix and is an estimate only.

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It’s Tea Time!

Cookies in the afternoon at “teatime” are a long held tradition, whether served with tea, coffee or even milk for an after school snack. No matter what you serve with your cookies, we’ve got a great list for you to choose from!

Baking Tools used in this Madeleines Recipe

You really can’t make authentic madeleines without the traditional madeleine pan. This pan is like a muffin pan in that it offers a space (or indentation) for each cake. The madeleine tray gives a rippled bottom finish to each cake and the tops will be slightly domed and beautifully browned.

Here is a Madeleine Pan that is sold on Amazon. 

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Holly Baker

Holly Baker started the food blog, A Baker’s House, in 2011. She is the writer, recipe creator, and photographer for the site. Holly loves to bake and shares recipes for gluten free food, canning recipes, as well as traditional desserts too. Her recipes and food photography have been highlighted by BuzzFeed, Reader’s Digest, and She Knows.