A Madeleine, Mademoiselle?

A dessert that I’ve always enjoyed is the famous French Madeleine, a traditional small cake popular in many French bakeries. Now a-days, you can even find madeleines mass-produced on sale at Starbucks. One might describe Madeleine’s as a cookie but in French cuisine, they are a petite sponge cake in a shell-like shape (due to the molds they are baked in). Many people both bakers and tasters, enjoy madeleines so much because they are so easily adapted. The light sponge cake is truly a blank canvas for any flavor you desire. Traditional recipes include nuts, chocolate, and citrus-zest.

I decided to create a very traditional flavored madeleine using clementine zest. Although clementines aren’t typically used to infuse flavor in these miniature cakes, they are so similar to an orange, whose zest is commonly utilized, so the interpretation is nearly the same. 

What makes this dessert so perfect is their inherent moistness accompanied by a light, fluffy texture. The cake flour used in the recipe is the secret ingredient to any airy cake with a tender crumb. Cake flour has less protein in it than most other flours, which helps create that light, sponginess, thus, in a cakey-cookie such an ingredient in essential!

Probably the most difficult and crucial step of madeleines is the very last step, getting the cakes out of the pan. In Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe, they make this aspect of the recipe the most important by properly coating the molds with butter and flour. Butter should be applied to both the inside of the molds and also the edges. Another trick they suggest is to release the cookies immediately after baking from the molds so they don’t stick as they cool.

These cookies are best served fresh out of the oven; the warm buttery exterior amplifies the refreshing, bubbly Clementine zest that is distributed all throughout the little, seashell cakes. They are the perfect finger food for an outdoor afternoon tea or a lunch box treat for children. I know you’ll love them as much as I do!

Clementine Madeleines

(Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

Yields 12 Cakes

1/4
cup of unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4
cup cake flour


Pinch of salt

2
large egg yolks

1
large egg

1/4
cup granulated sugar

2
teaspoons clementine zest

1 1/2
teaspoons vanilla extract

4
tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Adjust oven rack to low center position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Coat the molds by mixing two teaspoons of melted butter with one teaspoon of all-purpose flour. Brush the molds and rims thoroughly, but not thickly, with this mixture. Sift both flours and salt together in small bowl and set aside.

Beat egg yolks with whole egg in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add sugar, clementine zest, and vanilla and beat until a ribbon-like trail forms from the beaters, about 3-5 minutes. Gently fold in flour mixture, then melted butter.

Spoon batter into molds and bake until tops are golden and cakes spring back when pressed lightly, about 10 minutes. Turn madeleines onto cooling rack; cool to room temperature. (Can be stored in airtight container up to 3 days or frozen up to 1 month.)

Enjoy!