Hojicha Madeleines
and how to achieve les bosses ("the (Madeleines) humps")
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“... a lot of our vocabulary, especially when it comes to baked goods, is very much like berries, vanilla, chocolate, nuts, caramel, and that kind of sums it all up. All of those things are amazing, but there’s also all these other amazing things … if variety is the spice of life, then that’s all I’m trying to do is just add more spice to your life.” Rose Wilde
I came across the above quote in an interview with pastry chef and author of “Bread & Roses” Rose Wilde the other day and I don’t think I could have found better words to explain why I enjoy experimenting with and developing recipes using unusual flavour combinations or lesser known ingredients so much: there are simply too many delicious things to enjoy to restrict ourselves to the flavours we grew up with!
And so today I want to share with you a recipe using one of my favourite ingredients that I wish was more commonly used outside of Japan: Hojicha. Over the years I have baked many things using Hojicha. This time it found its way into these Madeleines. The Madeleines also get the thinnest Hojicha glaze. The glaze is like a thin veil and barely visible to the naked eye but it adds the tiniest crunch when you bite into one of these Madeleines and adds an extra layer of sweetness and Hojicha flavour. Bonus, it also helps keep the Madeleines fresh for longer.
As much as I enjoy flavour combinations, sometimes you just want a single ingredient’s flavour to shine so you can appreciate it on its own. And Madeleines are perfect for that - small individual cakes, typically eaten on their own and best enjoyed alongside a cup of coffee or tea. They are also easy and quick to prepare and have a short baking time so are a great thing to make when expecting friends or family over for tea or coffee.
But before we get to the Madeleines, a few words about Hojicha (sometimes also spelt Houjicha):
What is it? Hojicha is a Japanese green tea. Unlike other Japanese green teas, Hojicha is roasted over charcoal which gives it a distinctive colour and flavour.
What does it taste like? Where Matcha is grassy and vegetal in flavour, with maybe a hint of sweetness but also delicate bitterness, Hojicha has a very different flavour profile. Altogether more mellow in flavour it has notes of chocolate and malt with a light smokey aroma.
How can I use it? In short, you can use Hojicha wherever you would typically use Matcha and you can substitute powdered Hojicha 1:1 for Matcha in recipes. Naturally low in caffeine, Hojicha makes for a tasty iced drink (in fact I first discovered Hojicha on a trip in Asia in the form of an Iced Hojicha Latte - at an airport Starbucks of all places!). Beyond that Hojicha tastes great in all manner of desserts - be it to flavour Madeleines like these ones, a simple pound cake or cookies, panna cotta, ice cream, pastry cream or say the custard in a custard pie like the one from Four and Twenty Blackbirds in Brooklyn. I would also happily eat an affogato made with a shot of Hojicha instead of espresso for something different! In terms of flavour pairings, a good starting point is that most things that work well with chocolate or Matcha will also work with Hojicha (e.g. pears, oranges or kumquats and other citrus fruits, banana, caramel etc).
Where can I buy it? Hojicha used to be somewhat difficult to find outside of Japan but as it has grown in popularity, it is now easier to track down. The easiest way to get hold of it is probably still to order it online - here for example. It’s typically sold in loose leaf form but you can increasingly find powdered Hojicha as well (otherwise a good spice grinder will quickly produce powdered Hojicha, just sift out any larger pieces).
In Brussels, you can find powdered Hojicha at Kami on Chaussee de Waterloo 355 in Saint Gilles. Palais des Thés near Stéphanie and Eden Thés et Cafés in Châtelain both sell loose leaf Hojicha.
Now back to these Madeleines. Making Madeleines isn’t hard by any definition. Yet it can feel frustrating to make some Madeleines only for them to come out of the oven without their signature little humps. (I mean would Proust have had as much to say about Madeleines had they been flat as a pancake?!). So below are my tips for how to get those elusive humps (“bosses” in French) that I picked up during a pastry course at Le Cordon Bleu in London:
Make sure your batter is well-rested and fridge cold. I like to rest the batter in the fridge for at least 1 hour, but I find les bosses are more pronounced after 2-3 hours so aim for that.
Use a metal Madeleines tray that’s stored in the fridge until you are ready to bake the Madeleines. I prefer baking Madeleines in a metal tray than using a silicone tray. Metal conducts heat better than silicone and that initial exposure to high heat is crucial for les bosses.
Make sure your Madeleines tray is properly filled. Anyone and everyone who has anything to say about baking Madeleines will mention how important it is to fill your Madeleines tray “just so” (neither too full nor too empty - I know, how useful!) to achieve les bosses. The theory being that if you overfill your tray, the batter will just overflow; yet if you underfill them the batter will just spread flat in each mold. How much batter to use depends a bit on the size and type of your Madeleines tray (some are deeper than others) but aiming to fill each mold by ¾ should do the trick. (You could always do a test bake filling just one of the molds).
Bake the Madeleines in a very hot oven. It may feel counterintuitive to bake mini cakes like Madeleines in a very hot oven (some recipes recommend temperatures of up to 220-230 degrees Celsius) yet it is that very hot temperature that is crucial for les bosses. Some recipes recommend a delicate dance between a super hot oven at the start, followed by switching the oven off for a few minutes to then finish baking the Madeleines at a lower temperature. To me that is more hassle than it is worth. That being said, I do recommend baking the Madeleines at a hot temperature (200 degrees Celsius or 180 degrees Celsius in a fan-assisted oven) and keeping an eye on them after the 10 minute mark to make sure they are not browning too much.
Baking powder. This last one is controversial - purists will argue that Madeleine batter should not include any baking powder. And it is true, it is perfectly possible to bake beautiful Madeleines with their signature bosses without using baking powder. However, using baking powder does help give the Madeleines a nice rise and hence those beautiful bosses on a more consistent basis I find.
Now let’s get to the recipe itself!
Hojicha Madeleines with a Hojicha Glaze
Notes: As delicious as Madeleines are, they don’t age particularly well. There is a reason that a number of restaurants offer Madeleines baked to order - they really are best straight from the oven or at least when eaten the same day. They will stay fresh for several days but will become increasingly dry. You can briefly revive them by a short (10-20 sec) stint in a microwave but ideally just bake some when you want them.
Makes 24 medium Madeleines
Ingredients
For the Madeleines
3 eggs
120g sugar
80g honey
230g flour
2 tbsp ground Hojicha
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
120g melted butter
80ml milk
For the Glaze
120g icing sugar
50 ml milk
10g melted butter
1 tsp ground Hojicha
Flour and butter for preparing the Madeleines tray
Directions
Brush your Madeleines tray with melted butter and dust with flour. Shake off any excess flour over the sink. Place in the fridge.
Whip together the eggs, sugar and honey for around 5 minutes or until tripled in volume. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, Hojicha, baking powder and salt then fold into the egg mixture. Pour over the melted butter and milk and fold into the rest of the ingredients until well amalgamated. Cover the batter and place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius / 180 degrees Celsius (fan). Using a spoon or a piping bag, fill each Madeleines mold by 3 / 4. Bake for ca. 10-12 minutes or until the Madeleines are well risen, springy to the touch and the edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
Whisk together the glaze ingredients and brush over one side of the Madeleines while still warm. Place Madeleines on a rack until the glaze is set.
(If you only have one Madeleines tray, keep the remainder of your Madeleines batter in the fridge until you are ready to bake again. Then, and once you have cleaned your Madeleines tray and once more brushed it with melted butter and dusted with flour, placed it in the freezer for 10 minutes before filling it with the remainder of the batter and baking off your second batch of Madeleines).