If you invite me around and say not to bring anything, that you’ve got it all covered, including dessert, a tiny bit of me feels disappointed. Not because I’ll have to eat your undoubtedly delicious creation (you are my friend for a reason, after all), but because it’s such a good opportunity to make one of the many recipes I’ve been dying to make.

A friend invited me around for afternoon tea on a Sunday and despite her insistence that we should just bring ‘ourselves’, I couldn’t help making just a little buttery something to take along.

I don’t own madeleine pans, so I used a little tart tray instead and it seemed to work out just fine. The batter needs to rest for at least an hour before you bake these, so a spot of planning ahead is required.

Madeleines

From A Treasury of New Zealand Baking, 2009

butter 100g

golden syrup 1 tablespoon

free range eggs 2

sugar or vanilla sugar 1/4 cup

salt a pinch

plain flour 1/3 cup

baking powder 1 teaspoon

caster sugar

Preheat your oven to 170˚C. Melt the butter in a small pan, and using a pastry brush, use a little of the butter to lightly grease your tray. Take a small sieve (a tea strainer is ideal), lightly dust the tray with flour and shake off the excess.

Put the butter back on the heat and add the golden syrup; warm gently until the golden syrup has melted and then leave to cool.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, and salt, and beat with electric beaters until it turns white (this can also be done in a cake mixer). Sift in the flour and baking powder and lightly fold in. Drizzle in the melted butter mixture slowly (an easy way to do this is to rest the pot on the edge of the bowl and slowly trickle the butter into the mixture as you gently stir).

Cover the bowl and put in the fridge to rest for at least an hour. After the resting period, spoon into the prepared moulds, almost filling to the top. Bake for ten minutes until golden and springy when you lightly press the tops. Watch them carefully in the last couple of minutes of baking as they go from just-cooked to overcooked very quickly.

Cool the little darlings on a wire rack for ten minutes and then toss in sugar. Best eaten while still warm.