Orange Cranberry Madeleines Recipe (2024)

I came up with this madeleines recipe after a long journey. A journey that involved making just about every madeleines recipe I found on the internet.

If you don’t know what madeleines are, or if you’ve never had one before, let me paint this picture for you…

French madeleines have this attractive finesse and lightness that all the other cookies lack.

The beauty of a madeleine is effortless. It just happens. Their shape kinda flows. Even when they just sit there on a plate, at the table, it’s almost like they are moving.

And when you pick one up and bite it, you feel like you are biting into a cloud, a cakey and perfectly sweetened cloud.

If there was a contest for the Most Sublime Cookie, the winner would certainly be a Madeleine. No doubt about it.

First of all, this is a very easy cookie to make. I have experimented with just about every method that explains how to make madeleines that is out there on the internet.

Without any further ado, let’s go over them!

The eggs

There are basically three different approaches to how to mix the eggs in your batter:

• Whipping the eggs over a double boiler and getting them to a certain temperature and then whipping them longer until they are in ribbon stage.
• Whipping one egg white until medium peaks are formed and then folding that into the batter.
• Simply whisk the eggs until they are frothy and lightened in color.

And to me the last one is the winning method. It’s what works best for me, and conveniently enough, it’s the easiest method.

The baking powder

To use it or not to use it is the question here.

My answer is NO!

I do not use baking powder in my madeleines. Baking powder makes the madeleine have this unnecessary elevated bump that completely throws off the shape of the perfect madeleine cookies.

Therefore, leave the baking powder out! (please)

The butter

• Cream softened butter with sugar
• Melt the butter

Most methods are going to request for the butter to be melted. And that is the approach I take.

Seems to me that, texture wise, there isn’t much of a difference between creaming or melting the butter. The melted butter madeleine is slightly lighter and the crumb is a bit finer.

When melting the butter, I let it bubble up and cook it for about 1 minute, until it smells nutty and toasty, slightly browned in color. This provides depth of flavor to the final product.

What a difference, guys! Definitely try this next time you make madeleines.

Resting or not resting

The answer is yes!

Rest your dough in the fridge. Your madeleine will have a much prettier shape.

This right here is the reason why you don’t need the baking powder to create the beautiful madeleine bump. When the batter rests in the fridge, the butter will harden up and give the cookie a much better structure when it bakes.

Citrus

I like to add lime (or lemon) juice and zest to my madeleines. For this recipe, I made it a orange one to go with my cranberries.

Conclusion

This orange cranberry madeleines came out so delicious I didn’t even know what to do with myself. (Sorry, Dulce de leche Snickerdoodles, I might have a new favorite)