hazelnut browned butter madeleines with whiskey caramel

Madeleines!! I am ridiculously, disproportionately excited by these little cakes. Last week JJ from 84th and 3rd was just back from Japan having totally aced the madeleine tin challenge. I've been hunting high and low for a particular scallop shaped baking tin for a couple of years, I knew it came from Japan, but no amount of internet scouring could source it. JJ found Kappabashi St, the madeleine tin and kitchen equipment heaven. There's a girl's trip in the planning :)

Sunday was a pretty amazing day; my house was full of wonderful, creative women, a car load of beautiful props, endless conversation and baked goods. Even the kids were well behaved despite their chocolate high. We baked, photographed, shared stories, and surprisingly ate! I'll post all the recipes eventually, but for today, with autumn finally here and cup of tea in hand, these hazelnut madeleines are just perfect.

hazelnut madeleines

15g melted butter, for greasing the tray
15g four, for flouring the tray
155g caster sugar 
155g butter
80g flour, sifted
80g hazelnut meal
3 jumbo eggs (approx 200g)
1tbsp frangelico

• melt the butter over a gentle heat, keep heating until the butter turns golden brown, and smells gorgeously nutty with hints of caramel, remove from the heat and pour into a bowl, this stops the cooking and prevents the butter burning, leave to cool a little
• put the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer if you have one, or use a hand held electric mixer, add the sugar and whip until thick and pale
• add the flour and ground hazelnuts and gently fold in
• add the frangelico and melted butter, mix until combined
• cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for somewhere between 2 hours and overnight
• when you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180ºC
• generously butter your madeleine tray, dust with flour then tap the tray on your bench to remove the excess
• using a piping bag, pipe the batter into the trays, filling each shell 3/4 full, if you don't have a piping bag just use a couple of spoons
• bake in the centre of your oven for 12-15 mins, the madeleines should be brown and crisp around the edges, and spring back when lightly pressed in the centre
• tip the little cakes onto a cooling rack,  allow to cool for five minutes or so
• dip the base of each cake in the whiskey caramel then press into the chopped nuts, consume as soon as possible!



whiskey caramel

200g caster sugar
80g butter
120 ml thickened cream 
1 tablespoon whiskey
1 tsp sea salt flakes, optional 

• tip the sugar into a small/medium heavy based pan and heat on a medium to high setting, stirring until the sugar starts to melt
• continue to cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar has melted, turned a lovely caramel colour and has started to smoke; things can be a bit tricky here, you want to cook the caramel enough to develop that deep toasted flavour that offsets the sweetness, but it's a very fine line, leave it too long and it will burn and become inedibly bitter, as always, practise, practise, practise...
• as soon as you are happy with the caramel, whisk in the butter, take care, it will bubble and spit 
• remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, if your caramel has formed clumps, return to the heat and stir until smooth
• off the heat add the whiskey and salt flakes, pour into a clean jar and leave to cool
• once cool, cover with the lid and store in the fridge, it will keep for 2 weeks

roasted hazelnuts

100g hazelnuts

• preheat your oven to 180ºC
• put the nuts onto a baking tray and roast for 10-12 minutes, until the skins have darkened and started to split
• tip the nuts into the centre of a clean tea towel, gather up the edges and gently rub the nuts together
• remove as much of the skin as possible as it can be bitter
• roughly chop, store in an airtight container until required