Saffron madeleines

A recipe, as promised!

Thank you SO much to all of you who upgraded your subscription this week!

Here’s your first subscriber perk: my absolutely failsafe madeleine recipe, and a radio-style voiceover above.

This is even easier than fairy cakes, if that’s possible, because the batter is happy to sit about - in fact, you get a much better result if it does. (This is helpful when there’s kitchen chaos and you’re simultaneously trying to make porridge for the children, pour out the cat food, heat up the dog food, then not lose it when the youngest pours a glass of water over your feet, laughing maniacally.)

I’ve tried to keep all the information you might need on this one nicely formatted printable sheet (I certainly prefer printouts to online), and here are some extra tips:

• I like these silicone madeleine moulds (it’s easier to remove the madeleines and you don’t have too worry about non-stick)

• I’ve given the method below for brown butter madeleines, as I think they give a wonderful depth of flavour - if you’re in a hurry, just melted butter is fine.

• EAT THESE HOT. You can definitely make them in advance, just reheat for 2-3 minutes in a warm oven before serving. (Obviously if they’re for a children’s bake sale, then don’t worry because children aren’t terribly discerning and won’t notice that they aren’t warm, and you can put icing on if you like.)

• These are fantastic any time of day (coffee mornings, afternoon snacks) but if you want to serve these a lovely dinner party dessert, you couldn’t do better than bring them to the table with a jug of warm chocolate sauce¹, a bowl of crème fraiche and a bowl of fresh raspberries (or my current favourite, Amarena cherries - the jar is nice enough to take to the table, too.)