Spiced Madeleines with Optional Maple Glaze

These spiced madeleines are special enough for any fancy gathering. But, you could just as easily enjoy them with your cup of tea or coffee any time of the day! Following this detailed madeleine recipe and the tips will ensure Madeleine success!

These Madeleines are perfectly delicious as is, but if you are feeling ‘extra’, feel free to dip them in one of the two glazes included in the recipe.

Thanks to my friends at Bellemain for sponsoring and providing some of the necessary equipment to bake these delightful treats.

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I have previously mentioned that I am a believer in kismet.

This business of blogging, of creating an online magazine for my valued readers, requires me to think and plan well ahead of time. In fact, many bloggers will have their homes decorated for Christmas in August and September to have Christmas content ready when their readers want to start their Christmas planning.

So, in July, I started thinking about and planning my fall and winter content. (FWIW, this whole planning ahead thing is not my strong suit!) At the top of the list I kept in my planner of what I wanted to tackle, master, and share with you was ‘madeleines,’ you know, those shell-shaped half-cake, half-cookie delicacies that originate in France.

Fast forward thirty days, and I received an email asking if I’d consider partnering with Bellemain to showcase some of their products, including madeleine pans, among many useful kitchen tools! Tell me that’s not kismet!?

…and that’s how these spiced madeleines were born!

what is a madeleine?

If you didn’t already know, I just gave you a little hint a few sentences ago. They are a delicious cross between a cookie and a small cake baked in a distinctive, shell-shaped mold. Its traditionally light texture is achieved by beating air into eggs and sugar, to which is then added flour, butter, and desired flavoring.

While madeleines are not complicated, I learned the hard way that you just can’t just substitute willy-nilly…which I am often wont to do. I liken them to macarons because you will reap the benefits of accurately measuring and sticking with the recipe until you’ve mastered its basics.

Their history is, well, uncertain. They are widely believed to have originated in the Lorraine region of France, though some speculate that they originated in Paris. And then, there is one story that has them linked with a pilgrimage to Compostella. So who really knows where they originally hailed from, but they are firmly ensconced with the French now!

do you need a madeleine pan to bake these spiced madeleienes?

Well, yes…yes, you do! Before you balk, could you bake muffins without a muffin pan? Or a loaf of bread without a bread pan? You can get two madeleine pans for $15 on Amazon. These are the madeleine pans I use.

tips for successful madeleines

• Use a scale to weigh your ingredients accurately.
  • Sift your flour before you weigh it. According to Cook’s Illustrated, “A cup of flour sifted before measuring will weigh 20 to 30 percent less than a cup of flour sifted after measuring—a difference that can make a huge impact on the texture of finished baked goods.” This is the flour sifter I use
• Melt the butter first so that it has time to cool.
• Have the remaining ingredients at room temperature.
• Use a gentle hand when incorporating the flour and butter into your whipped eggs and sugar.
• And speaking of whipped eggs and sugar, you want to beat them until they are pale, and the batter will ribbon when lifted.
• Freeze your madeleine molds
• Butter your madeleine molds, freeze them, and then butter them again.
  • Cover and refrigerate your batter for a minimum of sixty minutes. I’ve seen other recipes that recommend refrigerating for up to twenty-four hours, but I’ve never gone past two hours with this recipe. A nice lidded mixing bowl is helpful.

how to quickly get eggs to room temperature?

Oh no! You forgot to get your eggs out of the fridge two hours ahead of time to let them come to room temperature!

Don’t fret! You’ll still have your spiced madeleines today! Just fill a bowl with very warm/hot (not boiling) water and add your eggs (still in their shells). Your eggs will be at room temperature in 5 minutes!

is your baking powder up to the job?

After an entire day of Christmas cookie baking fell flat (no pun intended!), I am now very religious in checking my baking soda and baking powder. In fact, those two ingredients are relatively inexpensive, so I typically replace them before I start baking for Christmas each year.

But, just to be sure, you can test your baking powder by adding a teaspoon of baking powder to a cup of hot water. If it bubbles, you are in good shape. If not, hightail it to the grocery store before you do any more baking.

storing your spiced madeleines

The truth is, madeleines are absolutely at their best right out of the oven when they are still warm. If you do need to store them, then hold off on the glaze until you are ready to serve/enjoy them.

If you do need to store them, tuck the madeleines in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also freeze them for up to one month.

But again, they are at their most sublime right out of the oven.

Spiced Madeleines

lynn

These spiced madeleines are special enough for any fancy gathering. But, you could just as easily enjoy them with your cup of tea or coffee any time of the day! Following this detailed madeleine recipe and the tips will ensure Madeleine success!

5 from 10 votes

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Cook Mode

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 11 minutes mins

Refrigerated Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 26 minutes mins

Course Baking Recipes + Tips

Cuisine French

Servings 28

Calories 220 kcal

Equipment

• Tovolo Flex-Core All Silicone Jumbo Spatula – Candy Apple Red
• KitchenAid Professional 600 Series KP26M1XER Bowl-Lift Stand Mixer, 6 Quart, Liquid Graphite
• Bellemain Stainless Steel Non-Slip Mixing Bowls with Lids (4-Piece Set)
• Bellemain Stainless Steel 3 Cup Flour Sifter
• Bellemain Madeleine Pan | 12-Well Madeleine Mold Makes 12 Madeleine Cookies | Nonstick Tea Cake Pan for Madeleines, Cakelet Pan | Warp-Resistant Carbon Steel Madeline Pans (2-Pack)

Ingredients

  

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Spiced Madeleines

• 4.5 ounces of unsalted butter melted and cooled (weigh it out)
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 200 grams 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 256 grams 2 cups of all-purpose flour, sifted before weighed
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup 2% milk at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons melted butter for madeleine pans
• Maple White Chocolate Glaze OR Maple Brown Sugar Glaze

Maple White Chocolate Glaze

• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 2-4 teaspoons vegetable oil or coconut oil
• 1/8 teaspoon Maple Extract water-free

Maple Brown Sugar Glaze

• 1/4 cup of unsalted butter
• 1 /2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/8 cup whole milk or cream
• 1 tablespoon Maple Syrup or 1/2 teaspoon Maple Extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

 

For the Madeleines

• Weigh your butter, melt it and set it aside to cool.
• Combine eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle or whisk attachment. I used both and give a slight edge to the whisk. Set your mixer on HIGH and blend for 8 minutes, until the mixture is pale in color and holds a ribbon when a spatula spoons up some of the batter
  
• While the eggs and sugar are whipping up, combine the sifted flour with the salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom.
  
• Remove the bowl from the mixer.
• GENTLY fold in the flour/spice mixture, one-third of the flour mixture at a time, by scraping along the bottom of the bowl with a spatula (wide is good) towards you. Continue up the side and scoop the mixture over the top. Rotate the bowl a quarter of a turn and repeat the process. Continue rotating and folding until the flour is just combined…don't overfold.
  
• Add the vanilla to the milk and GENTLY fold the vanilla/milk combination into the flour mixture.
• Then, GENTLY fold in the cooled butter using the same technique.
  
• The key is GENTLE AND SLOW. You built up a lovely air-filled batter when you beat the eggs and sugar; you don't want to deflate it now.
• Transfer the batter to a smaller bowl with a lid or cover the large mixing bowl and refrigerate for at least 60 minutes.
• At the same time, put your madeleine pans in the freezer. After 10 minutes, remove your madeleine pans and brush them with melted butter. Put them back in the freezer for another 10 minutes and re-coat them with butter. Put the pans back in the freezer until you are ready to bake your madeleines.
  
• Preheat your oven to 385°F
• After the madeleine batter has chilled for 60 minutes, remove it from the refrigerator and a butter-coated pan from the freezer. Using a generous tablespoon, fill each cavity with a dollop of batter. I have a 1½ tablespoon that works perfectly.
  
• Bake for 10-11 minutes until the edges are just browned.
  

If you decide to glaze your madeleines:

• While the madeleines are baking, make one of the two glazes. I provided an option because some may have difficulty finding a water-free maple extract. They both finish the madeleines perfectly.
• Once the madeleines are cool, either drizzle the glaze over the madeleines or dip the edge of the madeleines in the glaze.
  

For the Maple White Chocolate Glaze

• Put the white chocolate chips, maple extract and oil in a glass measuring cup and microwave on high for 15 seconds. Remove from the microwave and stir. Repeat the 15-second microwave and stir until the chocolate is smooth.
• If you think the glaze is too thick for drizzling or dipping, add oil in 1/8 teaspoon increments until it reaches the desired consistency.

For the Maple Brown Sugar Glaze

• 
  Melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat in a small saucepan.
• Bring to a boil, whisking constantly.
• Add milk/cream and maple syrup/extract and bring back to a boil, whisking constantly.
• Rremove from heat and add powdered sugar, whisking until it reaches a good dipping or drizzling consistency.
• If it is too thin, add powder sugar in 1 teaspoon increments. If it is too thick, add milk or cream in 1 teaspoon increments.
• Drizzle over madeleines or dip the madeleines.
• 
  
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Nutrition

Serving: 2gCalories: 220kcalCarbohydrates: 56gProtein: 6gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 14gPolyunsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 130mgSodium: 234mgSugar: 34g

Keyword madelines, spice

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