Keto & Sugar Free Classic French Madeleines. Almost ZERO carbs.
These buttery, squidgy soft delights are just like the sophisticated high-carb equivalent you find in French Patisseries. Same flavour, same texture, same look. You wouldn’t be able to tell them apart. Yet, creating the batter is no effort at all. And baking them takes just 8 minutes.
The size of Madeleines makes them perfect for lunch-boxes. And they’re absolutely fine at room temperature. I leave mine on the counter, on a plate covered with cling film. They don’t go stale or hard even after several days.
To recreate the French Classic, I mix two different flours as well as crème fraîche. When I set out to create these, my holy grail was to achieve the ‘bump’ that makes Madeleines so unique. Use the same flours and I guarantee that you’ll have the same result. The only thing you can change is the crème fraîche – swap it for sour cream if you must.
How To Make Keto & Sugar Free Classic French Madeleines
In terms of equipment, a Madeleine metal pan is de rigueur. You cannot do without it. It’s what creates the unique scallop shape. But it’s easily available. And inexpensive. I know… here comes another kitchen item to find storage for (eye roll). But I promise you that you WILL make this recipe again and again, so that initial purchase will be well worth it.
The batter consists of eggs, sweeteners, butter, vanilla extract. Plus a small amount of ultra-fine almond flour and an even smaller amount of lupin flour. And some baking powder. Simple ingredients for a seriously outstanding outcome. The lupin and almond flour combination is essential, both for the flavour and the texture. It took me 8 batches of different flour combinations to finally crack it.
Each Madeleine contains just 1.7g of lupin flour. But none the less, be mindful that lupins are legumes belonging to the same family as peanuts – in case you have an allergy. To read more about lupins, click HERE.
Don’t be tempted to ignore the oven instructions. ‘Shocking’ the batter with a high initial temperature is what ensures the ‘bump’. The lower temperature that follows allows the Madeleines to bake through without excessive browning.
Follow my instructions precisely, and you’ll have classy, shell-shaped, mini keto cakes to be proud of.
Enjoy!
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Keto & Sugar Free Classic French Madeleines
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggs - 100g net weight
- 50 g erythritol (U.S. option HERE)
- ¼ tsp pure stevia powder (U.S. option HERE)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (U.S. option HERE)
- 50 g crème fraîche
- 36 g unsalted butter of which 6g are for brushing the tray holes
- 30 g fine almond flour (U.S. option HERE)
- 20 g lupin flour (U.S. option HERE or world-wide delivery option HERE - use code QUEENKETO5 for discount at checkout)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch fine Himalayan pink salt (U.S. option HERE)
Instructions
- with an electric whisk (I use the balloon whisk attachment of my stick blender, U.S. option HERE) whip eggs and sweeteners until pale and fluffy; add vanilla and crème fraîche; whisk again to combine.
- melt butter and use 3g to lightly brush a 12-hole Madeleines tray mould (U.S. option HERE) - best use a silicone pastry brush (U.S. option HERE).
- sift and mix flours, baking powder and salt; add to wet mixture, detach balloon whisk and combine by hand.
- incorporate the liquid but cooled butter, drizzling it as you manually mix with the balloon whisk.
- pre-heat oven to 190°C fan.
- divide the batter equally between the 12 depressions, dropping 1 spoonful at a time into the middle of each one (it will spread out by itself) and adding a little more until you’ve used it all up.
- bake for 4 minutes, reduce temperature to 170°C fan and continue to bake for a further 4 minutes.
- let the Madeleines cool before removing them from their moulds; if you wish, dust them with Sukrin icing 'sugar' (U.S. option HERE) or Swerve confectioner (U.S. option HERE).
- serve or store at room temperature in a sealed container.
Notes
Nutrition
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I can’t thank you enough for this recipe. After being diagnosed with a sugar intolerance, I thought my high end baking days were over… But then I found you! I adore your Madeline recipe. They had the hump and everything! I added lemon zest to make them just like the ones my grandma made when I was a kid. Thanks again!!
You’re so welcome! Glad you enjoy my recipes and thank you for taking the time to comment. x
Hey there
Love the flavor! But my hump disappears the moment its out of the oven. Should i leave it in the ovens residual heat once the 8min is up? Or take them out of the mold immediately like traditional non keto baking? Its just such a shame they hump up so nice in the oven and once i take them out or the heat dissipates, the hump goes too. I used room temp eggs and i refrigerated the tray and the batter before baking to get the shock.
Hi Genevieve, next time, don’t chill tray and batter, as I suspect this caused the centre not to cook enough and then deflate with the sudden temperature drop. At the end of baking, you could also turn off oven heat, open the door 1/2 way and leave the madeleine tray in situ for 5 minutes.
Hi, thank you so much for this recipe. i just made two trays but failed, would you please help me? am not sure what the problem is.
1: My madeleines are very eggy, they have so strong egg taste, I used eggs directly from fridge, does that affect the flavour?
2:The central part of madeleines are very beautiful in the oven, but they disappeared after I took them out of oven. should I leave them in the oven until cold?
Thank you so much.
Hi Georgia,
cold eggs won’t affect the flavour, but you should always use room temperature eggs for a better baked structure, which, in the case of Madeleines, will affect the ‘hump’.
Did you use the same ingredients and weights, or did you modify the recipe somewhat? I’ve baked these many times, with no residual egg flavour that I can detect, but different flours will affect this.
Let me know and I’ll see if I can identify the issue for you.
Ugh I bought the Lupini flour and the Madeleine pan from amazon only to realize the directions only list temperature and time for ovens with fans. I’m assuming this means convection ovens which I do not have. I can convert the temperature to Fahrenheit but without a fan I’m thinking this will be a big waste of time. I know you must be in a country where ovens with fans are the norm but they really aren’t in most homes in the US. Has anyone tested this recipe in a non fan oven?
For static temperature, all you need to do is add 20°C to the given fan (convector) temperature.
This is a British website, so all measurements are in grams and oven temperatures are in centigrade.
Hi Antya, what is the role of the stevia powder in the recipe? Can I use more erythritol? Thanks.
Hi Linda, you can certainly use more erythritol if you wish. I add stevia to increase sweetness, to counteract the ‘cooling’ effect of erythritol, and to minimise possible gut issues.
Thanks Antya, do I need the creme fraiche and eggs at room temperature and do I need to chill the batter before baking?
Hi Linda, room temperature eggs, crème fraîche straight from the fridge and there’s no need to chill the batter.
The recipe is perfect. Thank you so much for this sugar free low carb version. I found Lupin floor but forgot to buy creme fraiche and used MonChou (soft cheese) in stead.
Yey Elly! Pleased you liked the Madeleines. Thank you for your feedback. x
These madeleines are delicious!! I added a teaspoon lemon zest and a teaspoon poppy seeds and they were perfect.👌 Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe! 🙂
You’re welcome!
They sound great! I can’t get Lupin flour could I use almond flour and another nut flour? And is creme fraiche the same as heavy cream? I am in Greece so it’s diffuicult to find some items.
Hi Georgette, yes, you can use those substitutions, but the result won’t be the same.
Hi It is Suzanne from California. I was so determined to make them right away I didn’t see your suggestion before I went to the store. We actually ended up using Chickpea flour not finding Lupin Flour in the local stores. I chose it trying to find something that might be similar to Lupin. My daughter loved them. Thanks!
Good to know, Suzanne. Chickpea flour is very similar to lupin in flavour and absorbency, so it was a good choice, although higher in carbs.
I want to try these! Can I replace the lupin flour with coconut flour? It is coconut flour even more absorbent than lupin?
Yes, coconut flour is more absorbent, usually, but it does vary from brand to brand.I wouldn’t advise a substitution for these. It took me ages to get the right flour combination to achieve the perfect flavour.
Hi, Going to try this recipe today with my daughter. I can not find Lupin flour anywhere. Any suggestions for substituting? I am in California.
Hi Suzanne, you could replace it with ultra-fine almond flour, but they won’t taste quite right and the texture will also be different.
You can buy lupin flour on Amazon. There are links in the recipe for both UK and US Amazon.
Hi Antya thank you for the recipe. I want to do it tomorrow but I don’t have creme fraiche, can I replace it with sour cream ? Here in Canada it’s not easy to find creme fraiche.
Thanks
Hi Mina, yes, that should work.
So I just made these and they’re delicious! 🙂
I spent a good 30 minutes yesterday researching keto madeleine recipes as I do every few weeks to see what the new offerings are (because they’re my absolute favorite thing to have with coffee or tea). I’d even looked on your site yesterday, hoping you’d tried it. So when I woke up to an email notifying me that you’d created this (7AM for me here in Seattle, WA) I jumped out of bed to make them. They’re excellent! They do actually taste like madeleines, which I love, so thank you so much!
And by the way I have tried other keto madeleine recipes and they just didn’t taste right. A moment of silence for the 8 batches you created before this – they definitely were worth it, in my opinion. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Oh and I followed the recipe almost exactly (just added a bit of lemon zest) and had no issues whatsoever. Thanks again!
Wow Luna! That was QUICK!!!! And what a coincidence that you’d been looking a day earlier! I’m super happy that you like them. Thank you for your comments. You’ve made my day!
I love Madeleines, these look lovely! I see you tried lots of different flours, were you able to try them using the fine Fibreflour? That’s the only flour I have at the moment. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I didn’t try a combination with Fiberflour – I try to avoid it because of the inflammatory ingredients (even though I absolutely love it). But I’m pretty certain these Madeleines would work with it. Try replacing the lupin flour, or even both flours. You may need to adjust the amount of Fiberflour you use. Bear in mind that lupin is more absorbent, and fine almond flour is less absorbent, compared to Fiberflour.