Madeleines on a plate with a sugar duster.
Photography & Art Direction: Anthony Contrino – Food Styling: Carrie Parente

One day, for no good reason, I wanted a madeleine.  There’s really no place to find a good one by me, so obviously that meant that I needed to buy a mold and develop a recipe.  I hadn’t made one since culinary school, and it was embedded in us that a successful madeleine is not measured by taste alone, but also by the height of its hump.  As Chef Toni used to say, “The bigger the hump, the better the pastry chef.”  So, of course, I obsessed over this recipe.  After a couple months of testing, I finally achieved my goal: a near weighless, super flavorful sponge cake with a hump that would make Chef Toni proud.

Vanilla Citrus Madeleines

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Inactive Time: 4 hours
Servings: 2 dozen
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Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ¾ teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ cup sugar
  • Zest ½ tangelo or Cara Cara orange
  • Seeds from ½ vanilla bean
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon Lyle’s golden syrup
  • 4 ounces unsalted European-style butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • Confectioners sugar, for serving

Instructions
 

  • In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt to combine.
  • In another bowl, combine the sugar, zest and vanilla and massage all ingredients until well combined.
  • Place the eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer and, with the whisk attachment, scramble.
  • Add the sugar mixture and golden syrup and whisk, on high, until the eggs thicken and lighten in color, about 3 minutes.
  • Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
  • Add the melted butter and fold to combine.
  • Transfer the batter to a piping bag, seal and refrigerate at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.
  • When ready to bake the madeleines, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • Generously spray a madeleine mold with non-stick cooking spray. Place the mold in the freezer for 10 minutes, or until the spray is frozen.
  • Pipe the batter into the cavities, filling each about ⅔ of the way full, about a heaping tablespoon.
  • Bake until the tops are set, and the edges of the cookie are golden, about 8 minutes.
  • Cool for a few minutes before using an offset to carefully remove the madeleines from the molds.
  • Serve warm or room temperature with a sprinkling of confectioners sugar.

Notes

Madeleines are best the day that they’re made.
Do not overfill the molds.
Course: Dessert
Author: Anthony Michael Contrino