Chocolate Dipped Madeleines

Ok, so I don’t usually advocate for “specialty” cookware. You know – dishes or tins or whatever that have only one use and the rest of the time just take up space in your cabinet.

That said…

I LOVE madeleines. I tried making them in mini cupcake tubs, figuring the flavor would be the same. It’s not – what I got were really dense little nuggets, when a good madeleine is actually airy and light.

So, I relented and asked for a madeleine tin for Christmas. Since I think my family generally struggles with what to get me, this worked perfectly for them and I finally got to try it out!

I started with traditional madeleine (ok, traditional madeleine dipped in chocolate), but I think down the line I’ll start experimenting with some flavors too.

Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 T dark brown sugar
1 ½ t vanilla
½ t grated lemon peel (don’t worry if you don’t like lemon – this isn’t lemon-y)
1 pinch salt
1 cup flour
½ t baking powder
10 T butter, melted (plus additional melted, for brushing the madeleine tin)
1 cup chocolate (either chips or melting disks, dark or semisweet)

Directions

Beat together the eggs and sugar and brown sugar until smooth.

Next, add in vanilla, lemon peel and the salt – beat those in as well.

Next, add in the flour and baking powder and beat that too, but not a lot – just so that it’s fully blended.

Finally, gradually add in the butter, again beating or folding (you don’t want to go overboard here) just enough to fully blend it in. That’s it for mixing!

Now for the tricky part – you need to let the batter rest and cool a little. Cover it and put it in the fridge for about a half hour. Use this time to clean up the mess you’ve made in the kitchen You don’t want to leave the batter in the fridge much longer than that because you want to work with a liquid batter, not something hard. There’s all kinds of science as to WHY you should refrigerate the batter…something about glutens and starch hydrating and temperature differentials. Basically, I tried it with and without chilling the batter and all I have to say is…chill the batter.

Before you put the batter into the madeleine tin, brush each space with melted butter.

Then add a tablespoon-full of batter into each space (don’t fill the whole area – the batter will expand). Bake in a 375° oven until the edges around each cookie just start to get a little golden brown – maybe 9-10 minutes.

Take the tins out of the oven and let them sit for a couple minutes, then take the cookies out of the tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the madeleines are cooled, melt your chocolate either in a microwave or double boiler and dip each cookie part way into the chocolate. Put them on a sheet of wax or parchment paper to harden, and enjoy.