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Madeleines

By Caroline Cummins, from the Culinate Kitchen collection

Prep Time	20 minutes
Cook Time	20 minutes
Total Time	4 hours
Yield	24 cookies

Introduction

This classic French treat is really more of a cake than a cookie. Yes, you can make like Proust and dip yours in a cup of tea, but they’re equally delicious swished around a coffee or a latte. Or eaten plain, of course.

If you don’t have a madeleine pan, with its distinctive scallop-shaped molds, you can always bake the batter in muffin tins. But the results won’t be as pretty.

Ingredients

	1½	cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the pans
	¾	tsp. baking powder
	¼	tsp. salt
	¾	cup sugar
	3	large eggs, at room temperature
	~	Grated zest of 1 large lemon
	2	tsp. vanilla extract
	1½	sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for greasing the pans (see Note)

Steps

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set it aside.
With an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the sugar and eggs until thick and pale yellow, about 5 minutes. Add the lemon zest and vanilla.
Sift the flour mixture over the egg mixture and fold it in, then gently fold in the melted butter.
Cover and chill the batter for at least an hour, preferably three or more; you can also let the batter chill for up to two days.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease and flour two madeleine pans. (If you have only one pan, you can simply reuse it once the first batch of madeleines has baked.)
Drop a large spoonful of batter into the middle of each scallop-shaped mold. Bake the madeleines for 9 to 12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are golden-brown. Use a butter knife to gently slide each cake out of the mold; cool the cookies on a rack.

Notes

Variation: For madeleines with a slightly different look and texture — the hump is pointier and the crumb more open — use room-temperature butter instead of melted butter. Whip the softened butter in a small bowl with a fork until light and creamy. Instead of folding the melted butter into the egg-flour mixture, fold a bit of the egg-flour mixture into the softened butter, then scrape the butter mixture into the egg-flour mixture and fold everything together. Let the batter rest (preferably in the fridge) for at least an hour before baking.

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