coffee glazed walnut browned butter madeleines

My madeleine fixation continues unabated, it's hopeless to resist. Back in July I created some recipes for Moccona, although I'm not a coffee drinker I love to use it when I'm baking, particularly with chocolate, or here, with nuts. These walnut browned butter madeleines didn't make the shoot but they've been on my mind since.

walnut browned butter madeleines

15g melted butter, for greasing the tray
1 tbsp flour, for flouring the tray
155g caster sugar
155g butter
80g flour
80g walnuts
3 jumbo eggs (approx 200g)
1 tbsp nut liqueur, optional, I used Nocello

• 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, pour into a bowl and set aside to cool
• put the walnuts and flour into a food processor and blitz until the nuts are finely ground, set aside
• put the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer if you have one, if not use a hand held electric mixer, add the sugar and whip until super pale and thick
• gently fold the walnut flour through the egg mixture
• add the liqueur and melted butter, fold 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, turn upside down and tap on your bench to remove the excess
• using a piping bag, pipe the batter into the tray, filling each shell 3/4 full, if you don't have a piping bag use a couple of spoons
• bake in the centre of your oven for 15 minutes, the madeleines are cooked when their edges are golden brown and crisp, and spring back when lightly pressed in the centre
• madeleines are best eaten when just barely warm
• makes 18 regular sized madeleines

for something a little fancier...

dip the madeleines in coffee glaze, press into chopped roasted walnuts and leave on a cooling rack to set - so pretty and delicious if you can resist eating them all while they're still warm :)

coffee glaze

150g icing sugar, sifted to remove lumps
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 60 ml boiling water

• tip the icing sugar into a small heatproof bowl, add the cot coffee and stir until smooth
• put the bowl over a pan of simmering water, stir for a couple of minutes until the icing has loosened and is glossy
• use straight away as the glaze sets really quickly

roasted walnuts

50g walnuts

• preheat the oven to 150ºC
• tip the nuts onto a baking tray, roast in the centre of the oven for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned and fragrant
• allow to cool and store in an airtight container until ready to use, will keep for at least a week (our house in Sydney has no air-conditioning and can be pretty hot, I keep all my whole nuts in the fridge and ground nuts in the freezer)