If you’re like me, you want a little variety in your dessert and cookie diet from time to time. I took a dive into making chocolate madeleines for the first time recently and, I have to say, they are quite delightful!
These chocolate madeleines are light, with just enough chocolate flavor and a soft, buttery taste.
If you’ve never made them before, I highly recommend giving these chocolate madeleines a try and serving them at your next brunch or afternoon tea.
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What are Madeleines?
Madeleines are delightful, light French cakes made in a special pan, or madeleine mold, that produces their unique scallop shape.
We tend to refer to madeleines as cookies because you can pick one up and eat it just like a cookie, but technically they’re considered cakes (fun fact!).
These chocolate madeleines are made of whipped eggs and sugar, flour, a little bit of cocoa powder and melted butter as the main ingredients.
Madeleines have a spongey and light texture. And, when dusted with confectioner’s sugar or dipped in melted chocolate, as I’ve done here, they’re simply perfect.
These chocolate madeleines are best served and consumed shortly after they’re baked, so plan accordingly!
How to Make Chocolate Madeleines
Making madeleines is a bit of a delicate process. Please don’t let that deter you from making them, though!
They’re really not very complicated, however, a light touch is certainly required here. The reason for this is we spend a long time whipping the eggs and sugar into the perfect, ribbon-like consistency (see Tips section below for more on what to look for here).
Once the eggs and sugar are the perfect consistency, the flour/cocoa powder mixture then needs to be delicately folded into the whipped eggs so they don’t deflate.
Folding, if you aren’t familiar, is not the same as mixing or stirring. To fold the dry ingredients into the whipped eggs, use a large spatula and gently “cut” the flour into the eggs by slashing the spatula through the middle of the whipped eggs, then gently scooping the spatula around the outside edge of the batter.
Continue doing this until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Here is a visual on how to do the folding technique.
Once the flour mixture is incorporated, the batter gets piped into the madeleine mold and baked for 10-15 minutes. Then it’s dipping time!
This recipe calls for melting dark chocolate in a double boiler (see Tips section below for how to make your own double boiler if you don’t have one) then dipping the cooled chocolate madeleines.
You can keep the madeleines plain instead or dust with confectioner’s sugar.
Tips for Making Chocolate Madeleines
- For this recipe, I used a mini madeleine pan. The recipe made 48 mini madeleines. And since I only have one pan, I made one batch at a time. If you have or if you purchase a regular-sized madeleine pan, this recipe will yield approximately 24 chocolate madeleine cookies
- I highly recommend using a non-stick madeleine pan for making these madeleines. A non-stick pan will make the process of removing your baked chocolate madeleines way easier and with way less disappointment. If you have a regular madeleine pan, I recommend spraying the pan very liberally with non-stick cooking spray then sifting cocoa powder over top to cover all the nooks and crannies. Then, repeat this process one more time. Spray again then sift again. Tilt the pan over a large bowl or your kitchen sink and tap out any excess cocoa powder. Don’t skip this step, especially if you are using a regular madeleine pan. There’s nothing worse than going through all the trouble of making these delightful cookies and having them stick to the pan
- When you are whisking the eggs, sugar and vanilla, you will have the mixer running for a full 10 minutes at least before the desired consistency is achieved. You are looking to achieve the ribbon stage. This means, when you stop the mixer and lift the whisk out of the batter, try forming a shape with the batter such as a figure 8 or your first initial using the batter that’s dripping from the whisk. The shape should hold for approximately 3 seconds before disappearing into the batter. If you have any doubts as to whether or not the batter has achieved ribbon stage, keep whisking. It’s almost impossible to over-whisk here, so whisk for 1-2 minutes more and test it again
- The best way to test for doneness of your baked madeleines is to poke at them. Poke one with your finger and if it bounces back, it’s done. You can also stick a toothpick or skewer into one. If it comes out clean or with only a few crumbs on it, it’s done baking. I prefer to poke the cookie, as I don’t like to have holes in my madeleines, but that’s a personal preference. Either method will work!
- If you do not have a double boiler, you can create your own by setting a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water about an inch of two deep. You don’t want the water touching the bottom of the bowl. Place the chocolate in the bowl and allow to melt slowly over the simmering water
Useful Kitchen Tools for Making Madeleines
Like this recipe? Follow me on Pinterest for lots more recipes just like this one! And don’t forget to pin this recipe for later by clicking on one of the images below the recipe. Or, click on any of the images in this post to save to Pinterest.
Looking for more chocolate cookie recipes? Give these a try:
- Salted Caramel Stuffed Dark Chocolate Cookies
- White Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Chocolate Madeleines
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 10-15 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 24 madeleines or 48 mini madeleines 1x
Description
These chocolate madeleines are light, with just enough chocolate flavor and a soft, buttery taste. If you’ve never made them before, I highly recommend giving them a try.
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups (160 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (10 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon (1 gram) baking powder
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (124 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon (1 gram) kosher salt
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled plus more for brushing pans
- 6 ounces (170 grams) dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC). If using a madeleine pan that is not non-stick, brush the pan with melted butter or spray liberally with cooking spray then coat the pan cavities with sifted cocoa powder. Turn the pan over and tap out the excess cocoa powder. Repeat this a second time to ensure the madeleines do not stick. If using a nonstick pan, you can skip this step. Set pan aside
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Lay out a large piece of parchment paper on your counter. Using a sifter or fine-mesh strainer, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Repeat the sifting of these ingredients to ensure they are well blended. To do this, place your sifter or fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl, pick up the parchment paper by the long edges and fold in half over the sifter/strainer, so the dry ingredients are now sifted into the bowl. Set aside
- Whisk Wet Ingredients: Add eggs, sugar, and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Start out on low speed, gradually increasing to medium speed as the ingredients begin to combine. Whisk at medium speed for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Turn the mixer on and bring to full speed, whisking for 8-10 minutes until the mixture is very light in color and the ribbon stage has been achieved. This means that when you lift the whisk out and form a shape with the batter, the shape remains present for 3 seconds. If you are in doubt about whether or not ribbon stage has been achieved, keep whisking for another minute or two. It’s very difficult to over whisk, so keep going until you’re sure ribbon stage has been achieved.
- Fold in Dry Ingredients & Melted Butter: Carefully fold in ⅓ of the dry ingredients to the egg/sugar mixture. Once it’s incorporated, fold in half the melted, cooled butter. Repeat this by folding in ⅓ of the flour, followed by the second half of the butter and finishing by folding in the final ⅓ of the flour. Don’t overwork the batter, but make sure no flour streaks present in the batter.
- Pipe and Bake: Add the batter to a piping bag or gallon-sized ziplock bag and snip off ½ inch from one corner. Pipe the batter into the Madeleine pan, filling each cavity to the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes if making mini madeleines or 7 minutes if making regular-sized madeleines, rotate the pan and bake for another 5-7 minutes. You’ll know they are done if you press down on the madeleines gently and they bounce back. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before gently tipping onto a piece of parchment paper to cool (don’t use wire rack to avoid getting marks on your madeleines). If your madeleines seem to be sticking, use an offset spatula to gently ease them out of the pan cavities
- Dip in Chocolate: While your madeleines are cooling, melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Once chocolate is completely melted, dip the bottom half of the madeleines in the melted chocolate, allowing the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl then place on parchment paper to allow the chocolate to set
Notes
- Store madeleines in an airtight container for up to 4 days
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: French
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I really like the mold you used. Where can I find it?
Hi Eva! This mini Madeleine mold is from DeBuyer! Here’s a link to it: https://www.debuyer.com/en/products/mini-madeleines-mould
Hi, is the batter consistency should be like fudgy? I made mine it was like fudgy
Yes that’s how it’s supposed to look!
Hi, butter is listed as one of the ingredients but at which stage do I add the butter? I’m not sure if I missed I’d buti scanned the article multiple times but just didn’t see anywhere on which stage to add butter.
Hi Angie! It’s in Step 4 – I updated the bolded section of that step to highlight that this is when you add in the melted butter. I hope you love them as much as I do! And let me know if have anymore questions.