I’m posting this recipe of my own here because the often-quoted Remembrance of Things Past (Recherche du Temps Perdu) quote written by Proust, “And once I had recognized the taste of the crumb of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-flowers…” aka LINDEN FLOWERS. These could be worthy of dunking in linden tea. As you wear your perfume, of course!

As for the jasmine tea used here, the option of black, white or green tea will have to be your choice, as long as it is fresh and fragrant. For this recipe, you also have a choice of using a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle to work the tea down into small flakes to incorporate fully into the batter -OR- you can skip the grinding and use fine mesh sieve to strain the tea for an “infused” batter without including any actual ground tea. I’ll leave it up to you!

If you are using the mesh sieve to strain the tea for an “infused” batter, you may want to prepare the batter the night before and allow it to keep inside the refrigerator overnight to help intensify the jasmine flavor. If you are incorporating the actual ground tea into the batter, letting it sit overnight probably isn’t necessary.

This recipe makes a baker’s dozen.

INGREDIENTS

3 Tablespoons Jasmine-scented tea (read the paragraphs above!)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs at room temperature

2 Tablespoons of honey

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup unbleached flour

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place the prepared jasmine tea in a heat-proof glass bowl or measuring cup. Melt butter in a saucepan set on low to medium heat. When fully melted and frothing, add the butter to the tea. Let cool.

2. In a separate, larger bowl, mix the sugar with the flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs well with the honey and vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture until just combined.

3. At this point, add your choice of the ground tea + melted butter or use a fine mesh strainer to strain the melted butter into the mixture. Stir until fully combined. Depending on which method you choose with your tea and butter, you can let the batter sit overnight or at least allow the batter to sit inside the refrigerator for one hour. If you would like to know more about the science behind the WHY of allowing the batter sit if you’re not infusing it, read here.

4. Preheat the oven to 450F/232C. Flour the madeleine pan or silicone madeleine sheet. Add one heaping tablespoon of batter to each madeleine shell. No need to overfill or smear it around to achieve a level surface as the baking will take care of that! Place tray of madeleines back into the fridge for 10 minutes because you’ve raised its temperature slightly since removing it to fill the pan.

5. Place madeleines into the oven, but now is when you need to keep watch and keep track of the time. After baking 2-3 minutes, a small dip will emerge upon the surface of the madeleines. Reduce the oven temperature to 390F/199C and bake for another 4 minutes or so until a small hill starts to emerge along the surface of the batter. Lower the oven heat to 350F/177C and bake until the madeleines are well-rounded and golden at the edges, approximately another 4 to 5 minutes.

6. Remove madeleines from the oven and pop them out onto a wire rack to cool. If you need to re-use the pan or sheet for a second batch, make sure that is it clean, cool and dusted once again. The madeleines are best eaten warm but may be saved for a day or two inside an air-tight container.