the.yellow.page

yums.

Orange Almond Madeleines

You can never have too much of a good thing…

especially if they are these lovely seashell-shaped cake cookies. Yum.

I know that I made madeleines less than a week ago… but I was anxious to try out another recipe with a different flavor profile. These were better than my first attempt: they “humped” up nicely, had a bit more flour to butter ratio so were a bit more cake-y, and the glaze, oh the glaze! I loved the subtle flavor of orange and almond in the plain madeleines (you almost didn’t feel guilty after devouring a few straight from the pan), but addition of a sweet orange glaze pretty much sky-rocketed these babies to pure awesomeness.

Orange Almond Madeleines

adapted from David Lebovitz’s Lemon-Glazed Madeleines

makes 24 cookies

3 eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 rounded teaspoon salt
1/2 cup almond meal (finely ground almonds)
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder (optional)
9 tablespoons melted butter, cooled to room temperature
1 tsp almond extract
zest of one orange

Glaze:
1 tablespoon orange juice
1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar (depending on how thick you want your glaze)

  1. Whip eggs, sugar, and salt in a bowl, until frothy and thickened (about 5 minutes).
  2. Sift flour and baking soda (if using) into the batter. Add the almond meal. Fold gently with a spatula (I did this until the dry ingredients were mostly combined).
  3. Add orange zest and almond extract to the butter, then add the butter mixture to the batter a few spoonfuls at a time. Fold gently until the butter has been incorporated.
  4. Chill the batter in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
  5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a madeleine pan with cooking spray, or buttering each mold and dusting with flour.
  6. Spoon batter into each mold until about 3/4 full. (The batter was a thick paste at this point, so I just spooned enough so that it looked like it would almost fill the mold if it were more liquid-y.)
  7. Bake for 8-9 minutes, until the sides are beginning to get a nice golden brown. Remove from the oven and remove cookies from the pan onto a cooling rack.
  8. Make the glaze while the cookies are cooling. Sift the powdered sugar into the orange juice, and whisk until smooth. Add more powdered sugar for a thicker glaze, add water (or more orange juice) to thin out the glaze. Dip the madeleines into the glaze (both sides if desired), then place back onto the cooling rack (with a baking sheet underneath to catch the dripping glaze) and let the glaze set.

* These lovelies are seriously best eaten the day of, when they are crispy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside. This meant there were 24 cookies to share between me, Andreas, and a happy weekend house-guest. To ensure that we each didn’t end up eating a daily caloric intake’s worth of madeleines, I also gave some to our neighboring friends. If you store them, I have found that they get soft and squishy (not so delicious) if you cover them, so we left them uncovered overnight. The next morning, they were no longer crispy on the outside and were a tad bit drier, but even so, the last was devoured before it was 24 hours old…

  1. theyellowpage posted this