pistachio madeleines

I'm so mad for madeleines, especially fresh from the oven, dunked in something, preferably sticky, then dipped in nuts... I made these last week, right before we headed off up the coast for a week of family time on the beach. Half were baked in a cute vintage cast iron pan, the rest in my new favourite pan. The vintage pan, not such a good idea. The little cakes had black rusty butts, we trimmed them and ate them anyway, still delicious.

The shells i dunked in passionfruit curd then lightly pressed into an emerald mound of chopped pistachios. We packed them in tupperware and I nursed them on my knee all the way to our coffee stop at Taree. Emerald incidentally is the birthstone for May, a question we failed to answer at Wednesday night trivia at the Port Macquarie golf club. Our 15 year wedding anniversary, parmies and trivia with 6 kids in Port :)

I'm not done experimenting with madeleines and nuts; maybe some praline or popcorn, definitely more caramel, would peanuts or macadamias with smoked salt caramel be a step too far?

pistachio madeleines

15g melted butter, for greasing the tray
15g four, for flouring the tray
155g caster sugar 
155g melted butter, cooled
80g flour, sifted
110g shelled, unsalted pistachios
3 jumbo eggs (approx 200g)

• grease and flour the madeleine tin
• 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
• put the flour and 80g pistachios in a food processor, blitz until the nuts are finely ground, then gently fold into the eggs/sugar
• add the melted butter, mix until combined
• cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for anywhere between 2 hours and overnight
• when you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180ºC
• 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
• while the madeleines are baking, roughly chop the remaining 30g pistachios
• tip the little cakes onto a cooling rack,  allow to cool for five minutes or so
• dip the base of each cake in passionfruit curd, then press into the chopped nuts, then pop into your mouth!
• uneaten madeleines should be stored in an airtight container, they will keep for a few days, but are best eaten the day they are baked
• click here for the passionfruit curd recipe