Browned Butter Hazelnut Praline Madeleines

Madeleines...I almost forgot that I used to love these little French cakes until that one bad experience at a local bakery when I tasted an oily and dense version of it. One day when Chelle passed me two of these delicious Browned Butter Hazelnut Praline Madeleines along with some very yummy macarons, all my sweet good memories with madeleines finally came back.

Honestly, I always knew only two flavours of madeleines - lemon and chocolate. The other flavour which I've seen before is matcha, but I'm not that big a fan of matcha so it didn't quite attract me. But these...are truly amazing! At first bite, I couldn't quite make out what flavour it was...there was a hint of cinnamon and some nutty bits. Subsequent bites caused the flavour to be more apparent...and of course I asked the giver what flavour it was before I found out the entire story. I told myself I have to make these madeleines (that was before I started procrastinating) but it never quite happened until only recently. I saw that Chelle shared the recipe and some of my friends asked for madeleines. Seriously, I never knew how popular they were until 4 of my friends simultaneously asked for them. Looks like they have quite a big and loyal following here!

Normally, the madeleine batter would call for refrigeration overnight. But looking at the recipe, it states a minimum of 3 hours and a maximum of 2 days. As I was too eager to taste them, I made them straight out of the fridge after 3 hours. I wonder if the length of refrigeration affected the results? Or perhaps it was my overzealousness in filling the batter into the madeleine moulds. My madeleines cracked at the humps...hmmm...

Getting this was new to me, I don't recall having cracked humps before the last time...I wonder why? Appearance aside, these were absolutely delicious! I ate 3 of them at one go and gave the rest to my family and friends. Making these also gave me a chance to use my (almost) new madeleine moulds from Japan. I love how beautifully brown they turned out in them with some help from non-stick cooking spray!

Yummy! This recipe is definitely for keeps! Do give it try if you love madeleines as much as me and my friends do. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed :).