Brown Butter Honey Madeleines

Method

1. Put the butter in a light-bottomed 16 cm pan over medium heat and cook for 4 min, stirring constantly. It foams, then the foam settles and the milk solids on the bottom turn hazelnut brown and smell toasty: pour it straight into a heatproof bowl (scraping in the brown bits) so it stops cooking, and cool to about 40 °C. If it turns black and bitter, start again.

   Add in this stepUnsalted butter (to brown) 60 g

   medium heat

2. Whisk the egg, sugar, honey, salt, vanilla and finely grated lemon zest for 3 min, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture lightens slightly. For half an egg, beat one and use half.

   Add in this stepEgg, at room temperature 1Caster sugar 45 gMild honey (e.g. acacia) 2 tspFlaky salt (fine salt works too) 1 pinchVanilla extract ½ tspLemon (zest only) ½

3. Sift the flour, ground almonds and baking powder together over the bowl and fold just until no dry flour remains, then add the cooled brown butter in three additions, stirring until smooth and glossy.

   Add in this stepCake flour or plain flour 50 gGround almonds 10 gBaking powder ½ tsp

4. Press cling film onto the surface of the batter and refrigerate for 12 h (overnight). The flour hydrates fully for a moister crumb, and the thoroughly chilled batter pushes up a much bigger hump.

5. Before baking, preheat the oven to 230 °C (oven) for a full 20 min. Butter the tray carefully, dust with flour, tap out the excess and chill it for 10 minutes. Don't stir the batter (it knocks out air): spoon it straight into a piping bag and pipe a generous mound into each shell, three-quarters full.

   Add in this stepSoft butter for the tray 8 gFlour for dusting the tray 1 tsp

   oven

6. Put the tray in, set the oven to 220 °C and bake for 4 min to set the edges fast and force up the hump, then without opening the door lower to 190 °C and bake 5 min more (oven). With a 12-shell tray bake in 1 round(s), cooling the tray and re-buttering and flouring it in between. When the humps have risen and the edges are deep brown, turn them out at once onto a rack.

   oven