No Added Sugar Brown Butter & Sea Salt Madeleines

Serves: 12-16 Cooking time: 10 minutes

An elegant, posh-tasting treat that is simple to make and delicious to eat but is low in sugar and relatively cheap to make. A take on a traditional sugary French mini-cake.

Ingredients:

  • 90g unsalted butter
  • 3 medium free-range eggs + 1 medium yolk
  • 50g Total Sweet Xylitol
  • 1 tsp sugar-free vanilla extract
  • 140g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt (+ more for sprinkling)
  • 55g 85-90% dark chocolate, optional

Method:

  1. First, make the brown butter by melting the butter in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Allow to bubble away for a few mins, swirling the pan every so often and keeping a close eye to make sure it doesn't burn. The butter should start to separate from the milk solids (white bits) and then start to bubble furiously. At this point, check it often and remove it from the heat as soon as it darkens and smells nutty. Better to take it off a little too early than too late! Pour the brown, nutty butter into a cold bowl and chill in the fridge or freezer while you make the batter to get it to room temperature-ish.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.
  3. Grease a madeleine or mini madeleine tray.
  4. Whisk the eggs, yolk, xylitol and vanilla until pale and doubled in size (about 3-5 mins with an electric beater or stand mixer on high speed).
  5. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and 1 tsp sea salt, then sift through a sieve into the egg mixture and fold in gently with a spatula until there are no more flecks of flour visible.
  6. Pour in the butter slowly through the same sieve and fold in gently until just combined.
  7. Spoon the batter into the prepared tray (about 1 tbsp per madeleine or 1 tsp per mini madeleine) and sprinkle with a little extra sea salt, if you like.
  8. Bake for 10-12 mins for madeleines (or fairy cakes) or 5-7 mins for mini madeleines. Allow cooling completely.
  9. Serve cold with a hot cup of tea, or to make extra tasty sweeter madeleines, dip in melted 85-90% dark chocolate and sprinkle with a little extra sea salt.
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