Sage, Thyme and Emmental Madeleines

My regular readers will know that I love entering blogging challenges. I think I've mentioned previously that sometimes I happen to bake something or I've already planned a bake that will fit. Other times, I will create a recipe specially for the challenge. I really enjoy creating my own recipes which are usually based around the ingredients I want to use. 

Karen from Lavender and Lovage hosts Herbs on Saturday where you can submit any recipe with herbs. I love this challenge as it gets me thinking how I can incorporate herbs into my baking. Last month, I submitted lemon, lime and basil cookies so this month I decided I'd get out of my comfort zone and bake something savoury. I had a few ideas but in the end I decided to bake savoury madeleines. Yes madeleines which are not sweet!! They were a real hit with everyone particularly those without a sweet tooth (I get a few regular requests for savoury bakes!). 

Sage was the predominant flavour here and I may have been a little generous with my herbs so they were quite strong but not overpowering. I chose emmental cheese as it's one of my favourites but the flavour was quite mild. The madeleines smelt amazing whilst baking and they tasted like light cornbread with herby notes. The recipe is based loosely on a Martha Stewart recipe and I am already thinking about different combinations of herbs/spices and cheese to use. They were lovely on their own but would also make a great side dish to your main meal or provide an alternative bread accompaniment.  

As these were made from scratch and with lots of love, I'm entering them to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the theme is to cook from scratch. 

I'm also entering them to Simple and in Season started by Ren from Fabulicious Food and guest hosted this month by Laura from How to Cook Good Food as sage is in season.

 simple recipe with few ingredients = cornmeal, cheese, sage and thyme 

 brown the butter - important for the flavour, do not skip this step! 

 lovely chopped , fresh herbs - a generous portion as you can see!  

 dry ingredients and wet ingredients- mix!

 adding the herbs and cheese 

 ready to go in the oven 

 fresh from the oven 

 I also made some muffins with tomatoes for breakfast. I found these teeny, tiny tomatoes called tomberries at the supermarket - really sweet and juicy!

 I actually preferred them with the tomatoes as the acid helped to lift the flavours. 

 with herbs and cheese 

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

(Makes ~36 madeleines and 8 muffins I think - I can't remember now but it makes a lot of madeleines!! Would recommend halving the recipe if you only want a small batch) 

113g butter

250g plain flour

160g cornmeal (polenta)

50g sugar

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 cups milk

3.5 tablespoons of chopped sage

1 tablespoon thyme

100g cheese, grated 

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Grease and flour a madeleine pan.  
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan until lightly browned. 
• In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
• In a separate bowl, which the eggs, milk and slightly cooled browned butter (you don't want to cook the eggs!).
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix. 
• Finally stir in the chopped herbs and cheese. 
• Pour into a madeleine pan and bake for 8 - 10 minutes.