I first made these chai madeleines on a rainy evening last fall when I was craving something aromatic and sweet. I ate a couple of them right after they came out of the oven and they were scrumptious. There’s something I find so comforting about eating a warm baked treat with a strong chai aroma on a cold day. Pair that with a bit of orange marmalade and you’ll be transported to heaven.
I love baking madeleines because they’re so quick and easy to make. They are ready in under 20 minutes, and that includes both prepping and baking! And in addition, they fill your kitchen with the most exquisite scents! Who needs candles?
You can eat them plain, but I strongly recommend you serve them with orange marmalade. Chai and orange complement each other to create a burst of flavor in your mouth, much more than they would individually. You can also spread a little bit of (unsalted) butter before dipping them into marmalade, and they make a perfect winter morning weekend breakfast.
Since I opted to dip them in jam, I decided not to dust them with powdered sugar. However, if you make these for a potluck (and won’t be bringing jam), you can lightly dust them with powdered sugar. It makes them look a little bit less “naked”.
To bake these beauties, you will need a madeleine pan. These pans have small cavities with long and narrow grooves. Batter can stick to these grooves if you don’t grease them well. I recommend you use soft, room temperature butter and rub it really well into the grooves. I do this every time and I never have any issues with my madeleines sticking to the pan. In my experience this method is significantly more effective than brushing with melted butter.
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And finally, here you have the recipe for the chai madeleines:
Chai Madeleines
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (150 g/ 5 ¼ oz.) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g/ 3 ½ oz.) granulated sugar
- 1 stick (115 g/ 4 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 tbsp. ground chai tea blend
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature for greasing the pan
- orange marmalade for dipping the madeleines
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
- In a bowl sift the flour, then add the baking powder. Mix them with a whisk and set aside.
- Gently melt the butter over low temperature. Make sure the butter does not bubble. Once melted, set it aside and allow it to cool a little.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl, add the sugar and beat at high speed with an electric mixer. The mixture is ready when almost triple in volume and light in color. Add the vanilla extract, salt, and whisk until incorporated.
- Using a spatula, add the flour mix to the egg mix in 2-3 steps, mixing gently after each step. Make sure the flour is well incorporated, but do not over mix. Once the flour has been incorporated, fold in the melted cooled butter. Gently mix in the chai tea blend. Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes.
- Grease the madeleine pan with butter. Make sure to grease it well. Spoon the batter into the pan filling ¾ of each cavity and bake for 9 minutes, or until madeleines spring back when gently pressed. Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and allow the madeleines to cool in the pan 2-3 minutes at room temperature. Transfer them to a rack and let them sit until completely cooled.
- Serve with orange marmalade for dipping.
