Lemon Madeleines

This is an ultimate French breakfast which is not complex or flashy, it is just simply elegant and delicious. The secret to a really good madeleine is that it is light fluffy delicious and it is perfect with the coffee in the morning. So melt your butter gently and next crack your eggs to the eggs incorporate the sugar and then give that a really good whisk because it is important to incorporate some air now the secret to whisking is a big beautiful balloon whisk the bigger the more air you will get into your mixture.

So the best thing to do is to go from left to right and then change hands every 15 or 20 seconds so that your hands never get cold and tilt the bowl to your advantage and mix until the mixture starts to almost doubles in size. The more you whisk this the lighter it becomes so when it starts to almost look like whipped cream. Once the egg and sugar have become pale creamy and thick, sift the self- rising flour and then give the madeleines a twist by adding poppy seeds for crunch and lemon for flavour add a zest of lemon in there you can use lime zest or orange zest if you prefer.

Pour the melted butter down the sides of the bowl so it cools down even more and then combine. It is really important that at this stage you do not beat the mixture and you want to keep that nice aerated texture across the madeleines mix so use a spatula now and just gently mix your butter in give it a good mix. Leave it to sit there and butter and line your mould. The beauty of this recipe is that you can make it the night before and then simply bake it in the morning.

Bale the madeleines in a 180C preheated oven and do not open that door before 10 minutes. After 10 minutes take them out of the oven and a little tap they will get out of the tray. The smell is unique the nice crispy outside with a lovely fragrant fluffy centre and the secret of a great madeleine is the little mould on top. Enjoy with a cup of tea.