English madeleines

Give these French classics the British tea party treatment by baking the coconut sponges in a cone shape and serving with cherry jam glaze

Prep:45 mins
Cook:50 mins

Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 641
fat 38g
saturates 28g
carbs 68g
sugars 53g
fibre 6g
protein 6g
salt 0.4g

Ingredients

100g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
200g desiccated coconut
140g caster sugar
140g plain flour
1 large egg
140g full-fat coconut yogurt (we used Yeo Valley Greek-style)
85g glacé cherries, finely chopped
140g cherry jam

Tip

Find the best madeleine tin

If you’re lucky you’ll have inherited your gran’s English madeleine tins. If not, look in charity shops or cook shops for old dariole moulds, or buy new from nisbets.co.uk. We used 120ml-capacity tins – bigger ones will cook the same, but your madeleines will be a bit shorter than ours. If smaller, divide the mixture between 8-10 tins instead and check after 30 mins baking.

Method

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 4. Grease 6 x 120ml madeleine moulds (see tip, below). Put 50g of the coconut in a food processor with the sugar and whizz until the coconut is as fine as the sugar. Tip into a mixing bowl with the butter, flour, egg and yogurt, and whizz with an electric whisk until smooth. Stir in the cherries, then divide between the moulds. Sit on a baking sheet and bake for 35-45 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins, then turn out from the tins to cool completely.
Heat the jam in a pan or microwave, then sieve to remove the cherry lumps. Tip the remaining coconut onto a plate. Trim any wonky bottoms of the madeleines so they sit flat. Brush a thin coating of jam over each and roll in the coconut to cover. Will keep in an airtight tin for up to 2 days.