These soft and spongy, refreshing, and delicious Grapefruit Thyme Madeleines are a great way to bid a farewell to winter!
Hello, everyone! Before we start, let me ask you one question, please. Are you enjoying springtime? Did winter say goodbye to you in your area? It’s spring in here! This passed Tuesday spring finally showed up – beautiful, warm, and sunny. It was a bit rainy (yuck!) yesterday, but spring is back again today. I know you might be jealous, but I am going to share a couple of photos. Keep calm and optimistic – you will have the same weather, sooner or later. Please proceed to the end of the post to enjoy some spring scenarios (At your own risk).
How do you like our spring? Does it look like spring in your area?
All right, back to these bad guys, Grapefruit Thyme Madeleines. I only discovered these mini cakes last year (You can check these Maple Orange Madeleines) even though I had had the madeleine pan for years. What an easy delightful dessert. Well, even though they’re relatively easy to make, they also could be tricky. However, I listed some tricks that will help you make awesome madeleines in the post above. For instance, I’ve learnt from youtube french pastry chefs that adding some honey (or maple syrup) would help you achieve the perfect texture (Something to deal with crystallization and other boring chemical processes I cannot explain).
Honey? Yes, please! I love it. Besides, I love to use citrus fruit for flavouring, and you know that citrus fruit and honey go perfectly together! Also, as a huge lover for adding savoury herbs into my desserts, I opted for some aromatic thyme. Refreshing and pleasantly bitter grapefruits, aromatic thyme, hearty honey…I think I’ve nailed this combination :)
I hope you like these Grapefruit Thyme Madeleines and give them a try one day.
Happy spring!
Ingredients
- 3 eggs, room temperature (Take from the fridge 2-3 hours prior baking)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp. honey
- 2 tbsp. grated zest of grapefruit (one large grapefruit)
- 1 tbsp. fresh thyme
- 130 gr. butter
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup cake&flavour flour, sifted + some for dusting
Instructions
- Melt the butter and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
- In meanwhile, in a large bowl place the eggs and beat with a whisk for 30 seconds, until foamy.
- Add the sugar and honey and continue vigorously whisking for about 9 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer – just reduce the beating time.
- Stir in the zest and thyme.
- Add in the flour and baking powder. Don’t whisk the mixture – gently fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula.
- Reserve about 2 tbsp. of the melted butter and add the remaining in the batter. Gently mix to incorporate.
- Let the batter stay for at least 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to about 190 degrees C.
- Greece the madeleine moulds with the reserved melted butter, sprinkle with extra flour then tap the pan to remove the excess of flour.
- Fill each mould no more than 2/3 full – the batter will expand in the oven.
- Place the mould in the oven and immediately reduce heat to about 170-175 degrees C.
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Don’t open the oven first 5minutes.
- Remove from the oven and immediately flip the mould to release the cookies. You can use a knife or spatula to release the cookies.
- Repeat with the remaining butter (You don’t need to wash the mould. Just repeat the step with butter and flour.)
- Madeleines are best to be consumed as soon as possible – after two-three hours they start losing their fluffiness and lightness.
- Enjoy!
Hi – I’m Ben, a blogger, recipe developer, and food photographer. I’m glad you’re here! I hope you will enjoy hundreds of delicious recipes and a pinch of havoc in the kitchen.
Haha! Love it Ben. We’re having a similar type of spring in NL! There is still so much snow on my front lawn that I can’t see the neighbours house across the street! The storm we had in January (90cm) had a lasting impact. The snow might be gone by July! As for these madeleines, love the flavour combo. One or two with a cup of tea would be perfect!
Ooooh, Spring! How….lovely. And white! Hope you get some new colors soon! But beautiful photos! And beautiful madeleines! I love citrus season, and have never made a grapefruit-flavored dessert! Seems like now is the time, eh?
Wow! Checkout your snow. I was expecting some pictures of beautiful springtime having arrived. I can’t wait until the weather gets warmer here so although we’re in lockdown we can at least get out to sit in our back garden! I need to bake these madeleines, the thought of that grapefruit taste is making my mouth water.!
Haha I actually believed you about spring! That snow looks crazy! It’s starting to warm up here. . .These madeleines look wonderful! It’s hard to go wrong with grapefruit!
haha…springtime, huh? oh my.
Your grapefruit thyme madeleines are completely mouthwatering. I’m a sucker for citrus / herb treats!
Oh, you jokester! I see what you did with those springtime photos. It looks a little bit like our place on Monday, but at least ours melted over the next couple of days. We’re finally starting to get some temperatures that let us actually go outside…and we need it thanks to the whole quarantining thing! Speaking of quarantine, I’ve been doing more baking lately…and these madeleines need to be on the list. What a fun flavor combo here!!
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