No resting, no tricky technique, just perfect, golden, light & airy Madeleines in under 30 minutes! I’m so proud to be sharing my recipe with you today, after weeks of testing I finally have a recipe for the best little butter cakes I’ve ever tasted and you won’t believe how easy they are! Includes a how-to video in the recipe card!
These delicate cookies are shockingly easy to make considering how hard this recipe was for me to crack! Also known as French butter cakes, madeleines are well-known, easily-recognizable, sophisticated little cakes. They have a reputation for being fussy, and what they’re really known for is their scalloped shell-shape and their characteristic bump. It took weeks upon weeks to finally get this recipe perfected, but it was definitely worth it.
If you’ve made madeleines before, you’ll notice that my recipe is fairly different from many traditional recipes. It also produces better results with simpler technique than traditional recipes. There’s no whipping our eggs to “ribbon” stage and there’s no long chilling period (or any chilling period at all). Just perfect madeleines that:
- Are light and airy with a melt-in-your-mouth interior
- Beautiful golden brown with just barely crisp exteriors.
- Perfectly shell-shaped on one side with the classic madeleine “hump” on the other
- Not at all fussy or difficult.
I’ve always been honest with you here. If fussy technique or extra time is needed for the best results, I’m going to encourage you to learn that technique or take that time. Despite my hatred of water baths, I teach you how to use one in my creme brûlée recipe, and I already have my fair share of fussier French recipes (cream puffs and petit fours, to name a few!) in which we’ve tackled different techniques. I was ready to spend paragraphs talking about how to ribbon and the importance of resting (I still talk about it a little below).
But after weeks of testing, it turns out it isn’t necessary after all.
Are They Cookies or Cakes?
Technically, madeleines (or petite madeleines) are small butter cakes. However, because of their shape and size they’re often referred to as cookies. Truthfully they’re mostly like a cross between the two desserts (and who could ask for a better hybrid?). They’re a bit more dense than your average cake recipe, but much, much lighter and fluffier than any cookie.
Whether you call them cookies or cakes, there are two absolutely key characteristics that all madeleines must have: A beautiful scalloped, shell-shaped exterior on one side and a pronounced hump on the other. Check and check ☑️ ☑️
If you’re curious, here’s a brief history on the origins of madeleines.
What You Need:
- Butter. My madeleine recipe uses more butter than other recipes you might have tried or seen. It’s not a mistake, this creates more flavorful, more buttery, more delicious madeleines than you’ve seriously ever tasted before. For real. Melt the butter before you begin so that it has time to cool before you add it to your batter.
- Eggs. You need just two eggs for this recipe. Large or extra large will work (and I’ve even used jumbo-sized with success).
- Sugar. I use a blend of granulated and brown sugar. Many madeleine recipes strictly stick to granulated sugar, but adding brown sugar gives the madeleines a richer flavor, a more distinct golden-brown coloring, and it also encourages a little bit of extra caramelization where the batter makes contact with the shell indent in the pan. This adds so much flavor and an extra (slight) crispness to the exterior of the madeleine. It’s just so good! I use slightly more sugar than some traditional recipes, but I don’t recommend reducing the amount. It makes them delicious straight out of the oven, no dusting of powdered sugar or chocolate dip required.
- Vanilla Extract and Salt. For flavor.
- Flour. My recipe uses all-purpose (“plain”) flour. You’ll sift it into your batter (to remove any lumps in the flour) and gently fold in with a spatula. Madeleine batter is fairly thin, like cake batter.
- Citrus Zest (optional). Lemon or orange zest is a common addition, and if I have a fresh citrus fruit lying around I always add some (make sure to avoid the pith!). If you don’t, though, you can skip it and they’ll still be delicious.
Please note that baking powder is not included on this list. Many madeleine recipes use baking powder to help encourage the madeleine hump/belly to form, but it is not necessary here.
Please also note that this is just an overview of the ingredients used. For the full recipe with amounts, please scroll down to the recipe card.
Another Key Ingredient: The Madeleine Pan
Another key “ingredient” is the pan! You absolutely need a scalloped pan like the one seen above in order to make madeleines. It’s the only way to get that characteristic shape. This is the pan that I use.
I use a non-stick pan, but it’s still important to prep the pan before using to make sure that the madeleines don’t stick. Non-stick spray works, but my preference is to mix together melted butter and a pinch of flour and coat the pan with that. It gives the scalloped exterior shell of the madeleine a better, butterier flavor.
Ribboning and Resting (And Why I do Neither)
Most madeleine recipes call for the batter to be both ribboned and rested before it is baked. My recipe calls for neither, though I tested many, many recipes where I tried both techniques before landing here.
Ribboning (in this instance) is the process of whipping the eggs vigorously (usually with an electric mixer) until the batter is thickened and falls “like a ribbon” from the beater. This incorporates a lot of air into the batter and is typical of a genoise (or, “sponge cake”, which madeleines technically are). My recipe does require you to vigorously whisk the eggs/sugar/salt by hand for a few seconds, but it’s not necessary to go all the way to ribbon stage. With our higher ratio of butter and sugar here, we still end up with a light, delicately cakey interior without needing an electric mixer.
Resting simply means chilling in this situation. Resting helps the batter to thicken and in many recipes it’s essential in order for the hallmark bump or hump of the madeleine to form. The idea is that the chilled batter expands quickly in a hot oven, causing the hump.
Resting is critical with many recipes (even with my crepes I call for at least a half an hour of chilling to help the gluten relax). With some of the madeleine recipes I developed and tested, resting was critical or the madeleines ended up flat (or they spread with crackled edges out of the pan). But with this version, the madeleines still end up with a perfect, buttery-soft interior and that trademark bump, with or without resting.
Your batter will thicken while the madeleines rest. If you have a single small pan like I do and need to wait for one batch to bake before using up the rest of the batter, you’ll notice it is much more stiff when you go to bake round two. This is fine and there’s no significant difference in the madeleines made with the thinner or thicker batter. That being said, if you want to make the batter a day or two in advance, you can store it tightly covered in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake.
Toppings
Many madeleine-makers top theirs off with a dusting of powdered sugar just before serving. This adds a nice extra sweetness to the cakes, but while I added some sugar for aesthetics in the photo below my recipe is perfectly sweetened so that no additional sugar is necessary.
A chocolate coating (made of melting chocolate bars, melting wafers, or chocolate chips and then dipping the cakes) is another popular choice, but again it’s not necessary here. Never thought I’d say chocolate isn’t a necessity but somehow here we are.
More Recipes You Might Like:
Storing
Madeleines are truly best served fresh, shortly after they are made (even better if they’re still warm!). However, these will keep for up to three days in an airtight container at room temperature. They may also be frozen for at least a month if allowed to cool completely and then frozen in an airtight container. Again though, they’re better fresh!
Enjoy! I really can’t wait to hear how you like these, so please leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram when you try them!
Madeleines (the Best, Easiest Recipe, with Video!)
Ingredients
For Coating the Pan:
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons all-purpose flour
For Madeleines:
- 10 Tablespoons (141 g) unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar firmly packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup (155 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons lemon or orange zest optional
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and whisk together 1 Tablespoon melted butter and 1 ½ teaspoons flour. Use a pastry brush to lightly but thoroughly grease every cavity of your madeleine pan. Set aside.1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, 1 ½ teaspoons all-purpose flour
- In a small heatproof bowl, melt remaining 10 Tablespoons of butter. Set aside to cool.10 Tablespoons (141 g) unsalted butter
- In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugars, vanilla extract, and salt. Whisk vigorously until thoroughly combined (about 30 seconds).2 large eggs, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Sift flour into the egg mixture, about ⅓ of the flour at a time, gently stirring into egg mixture after each addition.1 ¼ cup (155 g) all-purpose flour
- Drizzle cooled melted butter around the edge of the batter and add zest, if using. Gently fold into batter using a spatula until ingredients are thoroughly combined (but do not over-mix).2 teaspoons lemon or orange zest
- Drop batter by heaping Tablespoon into prepared pan.
- Transfer to center rack of 375F (190C) preheated oven and bake for 9 minutes or madeleines are light golden brown and spring back when lightly touched. Remove to a cooling rack to cool immediately.
- If your madeleine pan did not hold all of the batter, allow the pan to cool before re-brushing with butter/flour mixture and refilling with batter and baking your next batch.
- If desired, sprinkle madeleines with additional powdered sugar or dip in melted chocolate before serving.
Notes
Storing
Madeleines are best served fresh, but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Jim
Please, learn to pronounce the word ‘madeleine’ correctly…
Sam
It’s pronounced “madeleine”, Jim.
Malissa C
Delicious fast easy only issue with mine the lines aren’t prominent enough?? Unsure what I need to do? To fix issue any ideas please
Casey @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Malissa! So glad you enjoy them! The lines in your pan might not be as prominent as the lines in the pan we use!
Karla P
Thank you so much truly. I’ve been following your recipes for a year now at my job and they always come out amazing. I’ve struggled with these so much in the past and yesterday I saw your recipe and tried it and they came out amazing! ( a bit burned but that’s cause I’m working with an industrial oven xD so I need to figure that out myself) But thank you truly for your hard work and sharing your recipes!
Kat
Just curious what butter you used. I tried this with French butter and it seemed like the butter was too much.
Sam
Hi Kat! I typically just use an American brand butter, but European butter would work well too. 🙂
Don
What else can I use if don’t have the special pans?
Sam
Hi Don! Some people use a mini muffin tin 🙂
Mary Jieh
Hi! Since everyone has great results, I’m wondering if I can use the same recipe making savory madeleines…?
Sam
Hi Mary! It depends what kind of edits you want to make to the madeleines.
Carrie
Thanks for introducing this easy recipe! The madeleines turned out great, just not as sweet as I cut down some granulated sugar. The texture was great when they were freshly baked, but then it was my bad that I didn’t put them in an airtight container so that they turned harder the next day. The madeleines also tasted more floury instead of buttery the next day. Is it normal? I wonder if it’s the flour gone bad, or if I didn’t fold well enough before baking.
Casey @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Carrie, this could just be from reducing the sugar and not storing them in an airtight container. We’re glad you still enjoyed them!
Shawn
I have wanted to try making these and decided to try your recipe. They are so good!! My husband is going to be pleased.
Sonia
Thanks for sharing this recipe. The Madeleines turned perfect!. what is the best way to store them and how long can i store them?
Sam
Hi Sonia! I typically try to include this information either in the post or below in the notes. 🙂 Madeleines are best served fresh, but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.
Jean white
I am an avid lover of all things French, especially pastries like these simple little Madeline’s . I tried your recipe today and was so very pleased with the ease and quality of the product. Thank you for all your dedication to creating an easier recipe for your followers. This recipe is a hit with my family who have only tasted Madeline’s thru your recipe. It’s definitely authentic. Thank you.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jean! 🙂
Jenny
I love madeleines and can’t wait to try the recipe. But where’s the video? When I click on “Jump to video” it goes to the recipe but there’s no video to click onto. What am I missing?
Sam
Hi Jenny! If you have a pop up blocker enabled it will prevent the video from playing. You can always find my videos on YouTube as well. 🙂
Taylor Betheil
I always wanted to make madeleines, but I don’t have the pan! Then I saw this adorable heart shaped mini cakes pan for Valentine’s Day, and I decided to them in that. They came out absolutely amazing (and are also super cute). The only thing I had to alter because I used the heart shaped pan was the cooking time, but that was expected because it is a different shaped pan. They were so amazing and I will definitely use this recipe again.
Suzy Fairchild
I’ve just made these madelines for the first time with my new pan. I made them exactly as recipe and they turned out perfectly. Slightly crisp on the outside, cakey inside. I had to bake them for 12-13 minutes to get the brown just right.
Just lovely.
TK
loved how these turned out! except mine have quite a bit of holes in the finished product – do you happen to know why and how to avoid that?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! The air bubbles aren’t an uncommon occurance. They are a pretty airy cookie. 🙂
Claudia Hon
Mine had holes, too, however they are so yummy!!
Harshita
Hi Sam! I’ve made these so many times, as is, with great success, so thank you for the terrific recipe! i wanted to do a strawberry version with some puree for Valentine’s Day-can I just add in a couple table-spoons of puree into the batter? Would I have to adjust any other ingredient to account for this change?
Thank you! xx
Sam
Hi Harshita! I’m not sure how adding a strawberry puree to this would work. You are going to be introducing more moisture and it could cause issues, but without having tried it I just don’t know. If you do try it, I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Tash
what if you added freeze dried strawberries and cut out a little bit of flour?
Carole
I made my first-try using this recipe – it turned out perfect and my family will enjoy-THX!
Mel
The taste is ok. The texture is more of a cookie than a Madeline. I really wouldn’t call this a Madeline.
Sam
Hi Mel! Do you mean like a chocolate chip cookie in texture? That’s really weird. I’m not sure what could have gone wrong. They should turn out more closely to a muffin than a cookie.
Mel
Not like a chocolate chip cookie, but certainly nothing like a Madeleine. We had Madeline’s from France at the same time and this recipe just misses the mark.