Now that I’ve made these I’m asking myself what took me so long? They are easy (if a little persnickety) and you end up with a four bite little cake, with crispy edges and lovely middle. The thing, the tell, if you’ve gotten it right is a hump in the middle. Plan on letting the dough rest at least 20 minutes before baking.

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

pinch of salt

1 cup flour

10 tablespoons butter, melted, browned if you’re willing

powdered sugar for sprinkling

Put the butter on to brown. Do not allow it to burn.

Take a teaspoon of the melted butter and a half teaspoon of flour, combine and brush on to your Madeleine pan. Or spray with cooking spray, but the butter tastes better.

In a bowl combine the eggs and sugar. Beat until the granules of sugar are dissolved and the eggs are light in color. Add the vanilla, zest, salt and flour. Mix until just combined. Add the the melted butter. I scrape in the brown bits. I mix all of this by hand, fyi.

Cover and chill. Chill your pan as well. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

I use a purple, #40, 7/8th of an ounce, 1.75 tablespoon, disher. Our use 2 scant tablespoons of batter. It’s thick but oozes to fill the mold. With my pan, this recipe makes 18 little cakes.

Bake 14 minutes, press the hump to make sure they are done. Let cool 2 minutes in the pan then push out the cakes onto a cooling rack.