Making Madeleines

A Madeleine is a cookie or wait is it a little cake? No matter what they are, I have been wanting to make some of these forever. I bought a special Madelines pan. I think you could use a muffin pan but then they won’t have those adorable little ridges. So they won’t be the same. Sorry but they won’t. I actually bought the pan several months ago and just haven’t gotten around to making any until now. I searched the internet and put several recipes together and came up with one I thought looked really good. There are a lot of rules to making Madeleines so don’t get discouraged. I am sharing my experience with you as I go. I made these last Sunday.

These are some of my finished ones and I will tell you I was pretty proud of them.

***This is a Madeleine pan don’t you love the little fan ridges?***

Here is the recipe I used:

Pre heat oven to 375

Bake time about 10-12 minutes.
2 large eggs at room temperature ( Room temperature is very important)
1/2 cup of butter (I used salted but you can use unsalted)
2 Tbs. of melted butter for oiling the pan
1 cup of plain flour sifted
1/2 tsp. of baking powder
1/8 tsp. of salt
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 tsp. of lemon zest
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Mix eggs and sugar together and mix them with an electric mixer for 8 minutes. This is a long time but it makes the eggs inflate and that is what makes the Madeleines so light and airy almost spongy. This will make the eggs and sugar frothy and pale.

Melt the butter and let it sit for about 8 minutes while you are beating the egg mixture. This way the butter won’t be hot.

Mix the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside.

When you finish mixing the eggs and sugar, gently, and I do mean gently, fold the flour mixture into your bowl. The reason you want to do this gently is because your eggs are light and airy and you don’t want to deflate them. Next add the lemon zest and the vanilla flavoring. You don’t have to add lemon zest you can use orange zest or only vanilla flavoring. I loved the lemony flavor the lemon zest gave them.

The next step is letting the batter rest in the fridge for about 30-45 minutes.

After you have brushed your pan with butter put about a tablespoon into each little Madeline form and bake for about 10-12 minutes. You won’t believe how they just pop out of the pans. Brushing the pan with butter is best because it tends to make the ridges on the other side of the Madeleines browner and crispier.

***They will slide right out of the pan when they are done***.

I sprinkled half of mine with powdered sugar and left the rest of them plain. This recipe makes about 2 dozen. They dry out really quick so you might want to eat them really fast. I took mine to work and everyone made short work of them.