Ginger bear madeleines

This is our take on the classic gingerbread man – cute, spiced and a little bit playful. As they bake, the kitchen fills with the scent of ginger, cinnamon, and caramel. Whether you use a bear mould or not, this recipe bakes up soft, spiced and impossible to resist.

Ginger bear madeleines. Credit: Quadrille / Michael Gardenia

• makes

  12

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Speculoos ganache

• 100 g (3¼ oz) double (heavy) cream
• 40 g (1½ oz) caramelised white chocolate (we use Dulcey from Valrhona)
• 50 g (1¾ oz) lotus Biscoff
• 3 g (¾ tsp) gingerbread spice (see Note)
• pinch of sea salt

Cinnamon glaze

• 65 g (2¼ oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar
• 15 g (½ oz) water
• pinch of ground cinnamon

Gingerbread madeleine batter

• 120 g (4¼ oz) cake flour
• 5 g (1 tsp) baking powder
• 5 g (1 tsp) gingerbread spice
• 3 g (½ tsp) grated orange zest
• pinch of sea salt
• 100 g (3¼ oz) unsalted butter
• 7 g (¼ oz) milk
• 80 g (2¾ oz) whole eggs, strained (see Note)
• 75 g (2½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 10 g (⅓ oz) honey

For decoration

• 25 g (¾ oz) white chocolate
• 300 g (10½ oz) caramelised white chocolate, optional (e.g. Dulcey from Valrhona)

Refrigeration time: overnight.

Instructions

1. For the speculoos ganache: Warm the cream to 80°C (175°F). Pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth and emulsified. Add the crushed lotus biscoff, gingerbread spice and sea salt. Blend well. Cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) touching the surface and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next day, for the cinnamon glaze: Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the water and cinnamon and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
3. For the gingerbread madeleines: Preheat the oven to 210°C fan-forced (450°F/gas 9) and prepare your mould (see instructions here).
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, gingerbread spice and salt, then set aside.
5. Melt the butter and milk together in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, keeping the temperature at 40°C (104°F).
6. Warm the eggs, sugar, orange zest and honey to 30°C (86°F).
7. Mix the dry ingredients gently into the egg mixture, then mix in the butter one-third at a time.
8. Pipe into the moulds, reduce the oven temperature to 180°C fan-corced (350°F/gas 4) and bake for 10–13 minutes until risen and set. (If you’re working with only one mould, we recommend allowing it to cool slightly between batches before refilling, especially with metal moulds. Resting the batter briefly won’t cause issues – if anything, it can result in a slightly softer texture or a subtle difference in the hump shape. Our madeleine batters are designed to bake immediately, but they are also stable enough to rest briefly, either at room temperature or in the fridge if you’d like to prepare ahead. You may just need to adjust the baking time slightly.)
9. Remove from the oven, unmould and leave to cool.
10. To decorate: At this point, you can finish your madeleines in two ways.
    • The simpler version: Once the madeleines are cooled, dig out the core from the hump side (see more detailed instructions here for coring and filling). Fill with Speculoos ganache and replace the core. Brush the whole madeleine with cinnamon glaze and allow to air-dry. Melt the white chocolate and pipe over the bears to decorate as desired.
    • Feeling confident? Try this: Once the madeleines are cooled, dig out the core from the front side. Fill with Speculoos ganache, as above. Glaze the hump side of each bear.Make chocolate shells: Temper the caramelised white chocolate (see Note) and pour 15g (½oz) into each mould cavity.Gently press the glazed madeleine into the mould and let it set at room temperature for at least 4 hours (or set at room temp for 1 hour and keep in the fridge for 10 mins – check carefully, as metal moulds in the fridge might cool down too fast and the chocolate shell might crack). Lightly cover the mould to prevent drying out. Once fully set, carefully unmould. Melt the white chocolate and pipe over the bears to decorate as desired. 

Notes

• These madeleines were made using the Matsunaga Bear Madeleine pan, a Japanese-made silicone coated mould pan. However, you can use other moulds (see here for some general notes). Whatever the size of your mould, you want to fill the cavities 80 per cent full.
• Every oven has its own ‘personality. If it’s your first time baking madeleines with a new recipe, mould or oven, we strongly recommend doing a small test batch of 2-3 madeleines first. Observe: how fast do they rise? Are they browning too quickly? Are they setting properly? Make small adjustments based on what you see.
• Gingerbread spice mix, a blend of spices such as ginger, cinnamon, star anise, coriander, cloves and nutmeg, is available from specialist retailers.
• For the eggs: Crack the eggs into a heatproof bowl, lightly blend with a hand blender (just enough to combine), then strain through a sieve.
• To temper the caramelised white chocolate: For the home kitchen, we recommend the ‘seeding method’. It’s simple, reliable, and works well for most madeleine coatings and decorations. Begin by melting two-thirds of the chocolate over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave, heating to 45 – 50°C (115 – 120°F). Finely chop the remaining chocolate and add it little by little into the melted chocolate. Stir gently and continuously to cool it down to the desired temperature, 26 – 27°C (79 – 80°F). Then bring it back to working temperature, 29°C (84°F), stirring gently. Test before using: Dip a knife or the back of a spoon into the chocolate, then place it in the fridge for 1 minute. If it sets with no streaks and a slight shine, it’s ready. Keep it in temper by gently warming with a heat gun or hair-dryer, if needed, but do not exceed 32°C (90°F). If the temperature goes above this, you will need to temper the chocolate again. Note that the tempering temperatures given here are for white and blonde chocolate. Full details of tempering other types of chocolate, including milk and dark, are included in the book.

This is an edited extract from Madeleines by Hyoju Park and Rong Yao Soh, published by Quadrille. Available in stores nationally from 24 February. Photography by Michael Gardenia.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.