Tender little scalloped shaped lemon cakes coated with a tart lemon glaze. A beautiful French dessert that’s actually easy to make.
The theme for this month’s progressive dinner is the flavors of France. I signed up to bring dessert and had a really hard time deciding which French dessert to bring. French desserts are so easy to love. I finally choose madeleines because I’ve never made them before.
Madeleines have been on my list to bake for a long time. Becky, Vintage Mixer, posted several times about how much she loves these little scalloped shaped cakes. She’s posted several flavors, including her Utah Honey Madeleines that looked lovely.
Since I’m crazy about lemon desserts, David Lebovitz’s lemon-glazed madeleines also really appealed to me. So I decided to combined what I liked about David’s recipe with what I liked about Becky’s recipe to create my lemon glazed madeleines.
I ordered two Nonstick Madeleine Pans from Amazon, because David Lebovitz said “The trusty non-stick ones that I have now are much easier to use and the little devils just slide right out.” Mine just slid right out too. I did spray them with a little non-stick cooking spray with flour as well.
Using a cookie scoop helped to portion out the dough evenly. A #40 cookie scoop was the perfect amount of batter and you don’t even need to bother spreading the batter in the pan. The batter spreads out nicely all by itself as it’s baked.
I’m always a little hesitant to buy a specialty pan that only has one use, but I’m so glad I bought my madeleine pans. I fell in love with these lemon glazed madeleines. They were easy to make, looked fancy, and were light, tender and delicious. A perfect ending to most meals, or you could do like I did and snack on them all day long.
Lemon Glazed Madeleines
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- zest of one small lemon
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 - 4 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Whisk together flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Use an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, on medium-high speed beat together the eggs and sugar until the mixture is thicken and pale in color, about 5 minutes. Beat in lemon zest.
- Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture just until blended. Fold in the cooled butter and mix just until blended.
- Cover the batter and refrigerate for about 1 hour or until completely chilled.
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Put a rack in the top third of the oven. Spray the madeleine cups with non-stick baking spray with flour.
- Use a #40 cookie scoop to spoon batter 1 tablespoon batter into the molds.
- Bake for about 10 - 12 minutes until the edges are golden brown and middle is set. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack for 5 minutes before unmolding the cakes onto a cooling rack.
- While the cakes are cooling, make the lemon glaze in a mixing bowl by whisking together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
- Dip the scalloped side of the cake in the glaze, letting excess drip back in to the bowl. After dipping, put each one back on the cooking rack, scalloped side up to cool. Move the madeleines around on the rack a little bit occasionally until they’re cool so they don’t stick to the rack.
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Welcome to Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a Progressive Dinner Party. This month’s theme is the Flavors of France and is hosted by Jane Bonacci who blogs at The Heritage Cook. Join us and make something unique and delicious!
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats, a theme is chosen each month, members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party, and you can hop from blog to blog to check them out.
We have a core group of 12 bloggers, but we will always need substitutes and if there is enough interest would consider additional groups. To see our upcoming themes and how you can participate, please check out the schedule at Creative Culinary or contact Barb for more information.
Join us for the Flavors of France!
Appetizers
- Tarte á l’Oignon – French Onion Tart from Spice Roots
- Gougeres filled with Bechamel aux Champignons from Pastry Chef Online
Salad
- French Carrot Salad from Stetted
- Salade de Tomates et Fromage from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Soups
- Provencal Vegetable Soup Au Pistou from Mother Would Know
Main Course
- Duck Breasts a l’Orange from The Heritage Cook
Bread
- Fig and Anise Bread from The Wimpy Vegetarian
Veggies/Sides
- Zucchini Summer Squash Tomato Gratin from Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Drinks
- Kir Royale from Miss in the Kitchen
Desserts
- Lemon Glazed Madeleines from Barbara Bakes
- Triple-Layer Chocolate Macaroon Cake from François Payard from Creative Culinary
Lani
I’m back! So yummy, light and just sweet enough. I do wonder, can these be frozen? Thaw them out and the dip in glaze? Thank you, Lani
Lani
Just finished baking the Madelines and they are amazing. Definitely going to be go to recipe! Only used 1c confectioners sugar, dipped and used a pastry brush for my 2 1/2 dozen Madelines! Your recipe is perfect and your idea of using a cookie scoop really made
baking even easier. I would never have thought!! (Best tip ever!!)
Thanks for a super recipe.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks so much Lani! So nice to hear they were a big hit and that you loved the scoop idea. Scoops are great for portioning out cupcakes, muffins, cookies and easily dividing the batter between quick breads too.
Cathy at Wives with Knives
We love madeleines and I have a recipe I’ve used for years, but I tossed that recipe when I tried this one. These cakes are so light and tender and they keep well too if there should happen to be any left. Thanks for sharing, Barbara. I’m putting another one of your recipes into my recipe box.
Barbara Schieving
What a great compliment! Thanks so much Cathy!
Beth
Thanks for this recipe. My MIL gave me a Madeline pan. I found one recipe online that didn’t have much flavor. Love citrus, so this sounds delicious