Achingly delicious brown butter madeleines from Food Gift Love and a giveaway to help you wrap up your holidays. Jump to recipe.
Wrapping gifts is a secret joy I rarely indulge in. I cherish the crisp edges and perfect folds of craft or wrapping paper. If time and supplies allow, I’ll finish my gift with a big showy bow and a pretty tag. I love the way a beautifully wrapped gift shows care taken and thoughtfulness.
As we sit on the precipice of the holiday season, I’m glad to have Maggie Battista of Eat Boutique‘s cookbook Food Gift Love on hand. With dozens of simple food gifts, Maggie’s book is a reminder that thoughtfulness is a gift itself. Food Gift Love is full of approachable, unique recipes for homemade teas, sauces, spreads, jams, and all manner of beverages. Each recipe is accompanied by clever ideas on how to wrap and share your creations as well.
Wrap Up the Holidays Giveaway!
In the spirit of a more thoughtful holiday season, I’ve partnered with Maggie to offer a gift wrap giveaway to help you Wrap Up the Holidays. The giveaway includes all you’ll need to spread the love with assorted boxes, papers, gift tags, collage materials, food bags, stickers, and twine. To enter, leave a comment below sharing your favorite part of giving gifts. Giveaway open to US residents. A winner will be selected at random at 12pm EDT on October 26, 2016. Giveaway now closed – thanks for entering!
While some gifts are keepers, others should be consumed on the spot and preferably shared with the gift bearer. These brown butter madeleines are definitely the latter. Hear me when I say the following: they are insanely delicious. The brown butter shines through beautifully and they achieve some kind of indescribable buttery goodness that’s bright and rich and faintly lemony. It’s crazy good. I love these madeleines with all my heart. Please, go make them immediately (or just after you enter the giveaway).
To make madeleines, you’ll need a standard madeleine pan. Because brown butter is a key flavor component, you’ll want to take extra care making yours. I let mine get a shade darker than I’m usually comfortable with (a very deep shade of brown) and just loved the results.
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), plus more for the pan
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- confectioner's sugar, for dusting
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In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter until it just reaches the browning point. The moment it turns golden brown, about 3 minutes after first melting, remove from heat. Pay attention as there's a fine line between golden brown butter and burnt butter. Some pans hold onto heat for a while, so feel free to pour brown butter into a clean bowl to cool.
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In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add eggs, sugar, and both extracts. Beat about 5 minutes until pale yellow, thick, and about double in volume. Remove bowl from mixer.
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With a pastry spatula, fold in dry ingredients and melted butter until flour streaks have disappeared. At this point, you can bake them immediately, but I prefer to place batter, covered, in the fridge 1 - 2 hours or, even better, overnight to get more lightness in the batter.
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Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 12 cake madeleine pan and dust with flour.
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Divide batter evenly among the indents in the pan. Bake 14 - 16 minutes or until cakes are golden brown on the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached. Pop cakes out of pan onto a cooling rack. Serve warm sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. Wrap and gift once cakes have cooled.
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These little cakes keep in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days but are best enjoyed immediately, with some tea and a neighbor.
i don’t care how many other people say this, it’s the truth–i love the look of glee and/or surprise on the faces of the people receiving the gifts! i feel so happy that they’re happy!
I agree 100 percent! It really is better to give than receive. Thanks for entering Grace!
The best part of gift-giving for me is two-fold: first, the contemplation of what to make/buy; and second, the actual preparation. Then again, seeing the recipient smile is pretty darn special, too!
My favorite part is finding the gift that suits a loved one perfectly.
Those are just stunning! I love finding the perfect gift for each person. The process usually stresses me out, but the thought of having a hand-picked gift that matches my friends/family’s personality is what I love about gift giving!
My favorite part of giving gifts is seeing peoples’ reactions when they open them!
My favorite part of giving gifts is knowing the joy and happiness the gift gives the recipient. However, for me The old adage is true that “it is better to give than to receive”. It makes me so happy to give special gifts to special people especially when it is least expected.
I can’t wait to try This recipe for the brown butter madeleines tomorrow. I plan on bringing them into work.
thank you for both posting this recipe and for the giveaway opportunity.
Every year I give my four closest neighbors homemade baked goods on Christmas eve. Their grandchildren are now enjoying the goodies. It makes me so happy to have the kids come over and thank me.
i LOVE GIVING BAKED GIFTS FOR THE HOLIDAYS BECAUSE EVERYONE ALWAYS LOVES GETTING COOKIES! SEEING THE LOOK OF JOY ON THEIR FACES NEVER GETS OLD.
my favorite part is taking the time to really think about the person when initially coming up with gift ideas. It makes me think back to all of the cool things I know about the person.
I love the delight someone shows with a Homemade gift
it’s so hard for me to keep the gift a secret! i really enjoy the moment right before the person sees what it is.
I love being able to figure out exactly what a person wants and watching them open it up and realize they got it 😀
My favorite part of giving is letting someone know they are being thought about and showing them through your gift. I believe The more thoughtful and from the HEART the GIFT is, the more the other person feels your appreciation for them!
I love how happy someone looks when i’ve given them the perfect giFt!!
My husband is always asking for madelines – his favorite cookie, but I never feel like I can justify purchasing the pan. You’re beautiful madelines are making me reconsider… I love giving gifts in general. I like having an excuse to think deeply about the people i care about – To brainstorm and speculate about something that would bring them a spark of joy. Your gift wrapping supplies look so charming. Love rustic tags like that! THanks for this!
Seeing a face Light up with surprise and joy is the best part of gift giving. Homemade Gifts are from the heart. Thank you for the chance to win!
I love finding just the right gift to make a loved one smile. I also love wrapping gifts. I even wrap toys for our dogs each christmas and let them tear off the wrapping paper. Makes a mess, but they get such a kick out of it!
I LOVE trying to find just the perfect gift to please someone that they wouldn’t buy for themselves. So fun!
this is such a thoughtful idea! love it
I love giving and seeing there excitement and happiness it makes me smile!
I love making giFTS FROM HOME FOR cHRISTMAS.
I love brain-storming that perfect thing for each of my loved ones! This book looks lovely; thanks for the chance to win!
My favorite part of gift giving is finding the gift — for the people I know best, this entails stumbling across something that I can imagine laughing over together or reliving beautiful memories over. The scents of delicious home-made food would definitely be a great gift for inducing the latter 🙂
seeing family and friends get excited and happy when they receive their gift
My favorite part of giving gifts is that moment when, after you’ve mulled and searched for hours, you finally find the perfect thing for a friend or relative.
I missed the deadline to enter, but I’d still like to share my favorite part of gift GIVING. it’s a challenge finding the perfect gift for someone, but I love it. The search can be long and tiresome. Yet There is unique satisfaction in finally finding something that you know, 100%, will be adored by the Recipient. That feeling fills me with joy and energy, and seeing the Person’s face light up because they love their gift makes it all worth it.
So very happy to be the fortunate winner! Thanks again!