If you’re wondering about what to do this weekend, how about a little baking? Today, we’ve got a delicious Blood Orange, Brown Butter and Honey Madeleines recipe by the wonderful Letitia Clark. You may remember her from her first cookbook, Bitter Honey and her new cookbook, Wild Figs and Fennel is an extension of it. It’s full of delicious, doable recipes like this one!

This is an edited extract from Wild Figs and Fennel by Letitia Clark, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally. Photography by Charlotte Bland and Letitia Clark.

BLOOD ORANGE, BROWN BUTTER AND HONEY MADELEINES

Makes 20–24

The madeleine is inescapably and quintessentially French, but it has also penetrated the Italian pastry canon, much like the macaroon/macaron.

When we chose the name James for our Anglo-Italian son, feeling Italian in my new-found love of saints, I set about researching his name-saint, whose symbol is a shell. It seemed fitting to make a shell-shaped sweet in his honour, and there is no better shell-shaped sweet than the madeleine. These little cakes are so easy to make, once you have the mould, and endlessly delicious to eat. They make wonderful gifts, and excellent party cakes, for any sort of celebration.

The original madeleine is flavoured only with butter and a little honey, but I have adapted them to include ground almonds (a nod to Sardinian almonds and also contributing moistness) and increased the honey content slightly, as well as adding my other favourite ingredient: blood orange. These madeleines are wonderfully fragrant, with toasty notes from the brown butter. The batter does need to rest, so start in the morning to bake for the evening, or make the day before and bake the next morning.

You can easily leave them un-iced and serve for breakfast or a simple merenda if you prefer. The icing is more celebratory.

INGREDIENTS

140 g (4½ oz) butter, plus a little extra for greasing
100 g (3½ oz/generous ¾ cup) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
3 eggs
100 g (3½ oz/scant ½ cup) sugar
2½ tablespoons honey
good pinch of salt
zest of 1 blood orange (save the juice for the icing, below)
40 g (1½ oz/generous 1/3 cup) ground almonds

For the icing (frosting)
2 tablespoons blood orange juice
140 g (4½ oz/generous 1 cup) icing (confectioners’) sugar
dried rose petals, to decorate (optional)

You will need a madeleine tin (pan) or moulds

METHOD

Melt the butter in a small pan and use a little to paint your madeleine tin (pan) or moulds very well, using a pastry brush to ensure you get into all the creases. Now dust the tin/moulds lightly with flour and tap off any excess. Place in the refrigerator while you get on with the batter.

Using a stand or hand-held mixer, start whisking your eggs with the sugar.

Continue heating the butter. You want to caramelise it, which will take a good few minutes, but keep an eye on it so it doesn’t catch. It will bubble and pop away happily and then you will start to smell the nutty scent as it turns just brown. Remove from the heat and add the honey, stirring to dissolve. Decant to help it cool down, then whisk in the salt and set aside.

Continue whisking the eggs and sugar until they triple in volume and become thick and mousse-like. Lifting the whisk and letting a trail fall, you should see it hold its shape easily. Fold in the cooled butter and honey mixture, then fold in the orange zest, sifted flour and ground almonds. Stir gently to combine, trying not to knock too much air out of the batter. Cover and rest in the refrigerator either for a couple of hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F/gas 5).

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin/moulds, filling each shell only about two-thirds full. Bake for 12–15 minutes until golden.

Prise out and eat, preferably immediately, or ice them once they are cool.

Mix the icing ingredients to the right consistency (just dripping from the spoon) and then dunk the top half of each cake into the icing. Decorate each with a dried rose petal, if wished, and allow to dry on a baking rack.