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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.
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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
Emilie
Barbara, as usual this is a very interesting/helpful post! I have Madeleine pans but have never made them because it seems like every recipe I come across says they’re really only good the day they’re made. Typically that doesn’t work in my world. Did yours make it past day one, and if so, how were they? And do you think they would freeze well? Thanks!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Emilie – I read that they were best the day they were made, but I did put a few in a Ziploc bag and enjoyed them the next day. I haven’t tried freezing them, but I would probably freeze them without the glaze and then glaze them the day you’re serving them. Just because I think the glaze might get soft and sticky when it thaws. But you could definitely try it and see how they are.
April
I make these all the time and my husband loves them. The glaze is a nice touch and not overly sweet!
Becky
Glad you gave madeleines a shot!! They look perfect and I’m sure they taste good. I love anything with lemon flavor, especially this time of year!
Rocky Mountain Woman
They might not make it to dinner in my house.
2 sisters recipes by Anna and Liz
These are so much to make these days, especially with the madeleines pan. LOve the lemon flavor- good choice!
Annamaria @ Bakewell Junction
Barbara,
I don’t like to buy specialty pans either. I may have to purchase some to make these lovely medeleines.
Annamaria
Jeanette | Jeanette's Healthy Living
These are so pretty! My son loves madeleines – the glaze is such a nice touch.
Letty/Letty's Kitchen
Barbara–these look perfect! Glad you bought the pans. Love the progressive dinner theme.
Winnie
Can’t wait to try these Barbara. I make lemon Madelines (use the zest) but never put any glaze on them and as a lemon lover these look and sound extra yummy. I found my nonstick madeline pans at Williams Sonoma and work like a charm.
Maria
They look perfect!
Medeja
No doubt lemon glaze made them even better!
Jessica @ Sweetest Menu
I NEED to get a madeleine tin – these look magical! I am loving the lemon glaze!
Carol
Ohhhhhh geez…..one more pan I don’t have that I now think I should invest in. Those are so pretty and like you, I LOVE anything lemon. What a treat these delicate little dessert would be.
Jane, The Heritage Cook
Ah Barbara, you have given us a quintessential French dessert (or breakfast), perfect with a piping hot cup of espresso to end our lovely meal. Sheer perfection! Specialty pans are worth it when the turn out beauties like this. And think of all the ways you can use it … to form individual mousse appetizers (with gelatin), savory madelines, madeline-shaped chocolates … such versatility! 😉
Melissa B
These look delicious and so pretty!
Laura
Barbara, Your madeleines are just gorgeous. The lemon glaze is so shiny and appealing. By coincidence, I made madeleines last night so we’re really in synch. Honestly, I don’t know of a single cookie that makes me as happy as a freshly baked madeleine.
Ansh
So perfectly French! and heavenly and lemony and gorgeous !
Rosa
Perfect and extremely tempting!
Cheers,
Rosa
Jenni
Oh yum, Barbara! Nothing like little bits of lemony spongecake heaven! Beautiful. And sometimes you just have to treat yourself to a specialty pan! =)
Liz
I think your madeleine pan is going to see a lot of use. Your lemon version looks spectacular!!! A terrific way to end our lovely progressive dinner!