GastroGays’ Madeleines

Serves 4 You will need:

• 100g butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus a little extra for greasing the tin

• 100g plain flour, plus extra for dusting the tin

• 100g caster sugar

• 1 teaspoon poppy seeds (optional)

• 1 whole egg, separated

• 1 tablespoon honey

• Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

1 Preheat the oven to 190°C, 380°F, Gas 6. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat the madeleine tin with some melted butter, then lightly coat with a sprinkling of flour.

2 In a mixing bowl, add the 100g plain flour, the caster sugar and the poppy seeds, if you’re using them. Set aside. In another bowl, add the egg yolk, the honey and the grated lemon zest. Use a fork to mix together. Slowly add in the 100g of slightly cooled butter, continuing to whisk with the fork.

3 In a third bowl, whisk the egg white until it is stiff. Fold in the egg yolk, butter, honey and lemon mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients until everything is mixed well together. The mixture will become quite pastry-like, but that’s fine. Then, use a whisk or a spatula to gently fold in the whisked egg white in stages, being careful to knock as little air as possible out of the whisked egg white.

4 Add about 1 tablespoon of the mixture into each of the prepared moulds and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until the madeleines are golden and firm. Remove the tray from the oven and leave the madeleines to cool for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

For the GastroGays’ full series of recipes for Siucra, see siucra.ie. GastroGays are food and travel writers Russell James Alford and Patrick Hanlon, see gastrogays.com or their podcast ‘Chew the Fat’