This is the easiest recipe for french orange madeleines! It all comes together in a food processor and makes the lightest sponge cake cookies with a hint of orange.
The bourbon glaze is optional, but it adds a delicious kick to these french shell-shaped cookies.
Why you will love this recipe:
Madeleines are one of my favortie induglences. They are little bites of genoise cake baked in pretty shell-shaped madeleine molds.
Genoise cake can be troublesome, but making it in a food processor makes the batter more stable and still gets a lot of air incorporated. I first saw this method in Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh's cookbook Sweet, and thought it was brilliant!
Key ingredients:
Butter: This recipe tastes very light and buttery, and butter is the best way is get that perfect buttery flavor!
Eggs: Eggs are traditionally are the only rising agent in these cookies. This recipe gets a little help from baking powder, but a lot of the rise is still from whipping the eggs until enough air is incorporated.
Flour: all-purpose flour is the binding agent, and there is enough to hold everything together. The goal is to have the lightest cookies ever, so just enough is added.
Orange: The zest from one whole orange gives them some of that sharp orange flavor.
Orange liqueur: A touch of orange liqueur like Grand Marnier or Cointreau adds a rich and smooth orange flavor.
Step by step instructions:
- Start by melting the butter and honey together on the stovetop or in the microwave. Then let it cool.
- Mix the eggs, sugar, vanilla, orange zest, and liqueur into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and pulse until combined. Next, add in the melted butter mixture and pulse until combined.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for one hour.
- Grease a nonstick madeleine mold with butter and then generously cover with flour. Fill each of the molds ⅔ of the way with batter.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes and until the edges have browned.
- Make the glaze by mixing together the powdered sugar and bourbon and drizzle over the cooled cookies.
Tips for success:
- Let the butter and honey cool before adding to the egg mixture.
- If you don't have a food processor and blender works as well.
- Don't skip the resting step; it makes all the difference.
- Use a nonstick madeleine pan if you can. If you can't, grease your mold very, very well.
- Generously coat the pan with butter and flour. These cookies can get stuck if the mold is not greased enough.
- If you don't want a bourbon glaze, mixing the powdered sugar with the juice from the orange is a delicious alternative.
FAQ's:
This recipe is best enjoyed the day it's made, but they cant keep unglazed in an air-tight container at room temp for 2-3 days.
Yes! the batter can be made up to 2 days in advance and kept in the fridge until you are ready to bake!
They are cake that is baked in small molds, which makes them bite-sized like a cookie.
Not at all! This recipe is so easy to follow and requires minimal clean-up!
Looking for more cookie recipes? Check these out!
Print
Orange Madeleines with Bourbon Glaze
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 12 large madelines 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: French
Description
This is the easiest recipe for french orange madeleines! It all comes together in a food processor and makes the lightest sponge cake cookies with a hint of orange. The bourbon glaze is optional, but it adds a delicious kick to these french shell-shaped cookies.
Ingredients
For the madeleines:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup + 1 tsp granulated sugar
- Seeds scraped from ¼ of a vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Zest from 1 orange
- 2 tsp orange liqueur like Grand Marnier or Cointreau
- ½ cup +1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
For the Glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp bourbon
Instructions
- Melt the butter and honey in a saucepan or microwave and set aside and allow it to come to room temperature.
- Put the eggs, sugar, vanilla, orange zest, and liqueur into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and pulse until combined. Next, add in the melted butter mixture and mix again.
- Transfer the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Grease a nonstick madeleine mold with butter and then generously cover with flour. Shake off excess flour. Fill each of the molds ⅔ of the way with batter.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes and until the edges of the madeleines have browned.
- Let the madeleines cool for a few minutes, and then use a knife to remove them from their molds gently.
For the glaze:
- Mix the powdered sugar and bourbon together with a fork and drizzle over cooled madeleines.
Notes
- Let the butter and honey cool before adding to the egg mixture.
- If you don't have a food processor and blender works as well.
- Don't skip the resting step; it makes all the difference.
- Use a nonstick madeleine pan if you can. If you can't, grease your mold very, very well.
- Generously coat the pan with butter and flour. These cookies can get stuck if the mold is not greased enough.
- If you don't want a bourbon glaze, mixing the powdered sugar with the juice from the orange is a delicious alternative.
elizabeth says
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Carla Flott says
Made these today. Ran out of bourbon. These are so good! Great recipe.
Anonymous says
Made for Mother’s Day 2022 ❣️
-made in blender.
-VERY SPONGEY and soft
-filled prepared mold in freezer prior to filling.
Achieved the bump on back!
Pate Giltner says
Yay! I'm so glad you liked them! I hope you had a wonderful mothers day!