Chocolate Madeleines

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Wanna know the perfect treat for you to make your Valentine? Of course you do. They'll love it, I promise: chocolate madeleines.

Reason number one you should make these for your valentine: everyone loves chocolate. And on Valentine’s Day, it’s the gold standard. Forget roses. Forget jewelry. Give ‘em what they really want: chocolate.

Reason number two: valentine and madeleine rhyme, so it’s kismet. Admittedly, it’s not a perfect rhyme, but it’s close enough, you hear it, right? Just me? Okay, moving on.

Madeleines are little pieces of heaven, part cake, part cookie. We Americans think of them in the cookie family, but they’re basically pillowy soft individual cakes. They’re French, so maybe they are technically cake? Handheld, seashell shaped cakes. Nothing beats a treat you can scarf down by the dozens, and these cookies (cakes?) fit the bill. Skip the heart-shaped box from the drugstore and the chocolate roulette that ensues (am I in for chewy caramel or that gross raspberry cream that should have been discontinued years ago?) and make these for your Valentine. Heck, make them with your Valentine for a fun twist on the boring dinner date.

Madeleines are originally from France and therefore assume all the fears and intimidation of French cooking, but don’t worry, they’re pretty easy to make. Chocolate is the star of the show here –as it should be- so I suggest using a high quality chocolate, like a Baker’s or Ghiradelli bar, not chocolate chips. It’s a straight forward recipe with ingredients you likely have on hand, but you will need to invest in a madeline pan. “Invest” meaning spend $10-$20 on a pan for these seashell shaped cuties.

Madelines don’t have chemical leaveners, so they get their rise from the air you whip into the eggs; make sure you don’t rush through that step. A stand mixer or hand mixer is a necessity; I don’t think Hercules can whip eggs to the ribbon stage. Do you ever read a recipe and you’re like wtf does that mean? Then you either: A) Google it and move on with your life B) Forget about it and move on with your life. I’ll save you the trouble of both: the ribbon stage is when you lift the whisk over the mixture and the batter slowly falls down, forming a ribbon that holds its shape. Learning something new and upping your baking game, done and done.

These are a little more elegant looking than normal cookies, and sure to impress your Valentine; you could even drizzle them with white chocolate and red sprinkles to make them extra festive. Additional accoutrements or not, these cake-like cookies are fun and delicious. 
    

Chocolate Madeleines

Yield: About two dozen cookies* 

Ingredients:

6 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped

6 ounces butter

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

4 eggs, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup AP flour

½ teaspoon salt

Instructions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350F

2. Grease your madeline pans with either Crisco or melted butter. I use Crisco because it’s ready to go; either way, use a pastry brush to get the Crisco/melted butter generously in each mold. 

3. Melt the chocolate and butter, using your preferred method; over a double boiler or in the microwave. When I melt chocolate and butter together, I always melt the butter first, since butter melts so quickly. Then I pour it over the chocolate and continue the melting process over a double boiler so I don’t have to babysit it in the microwave. If you do the microwave, warm in 30 second bursts, stirring after each.

4. Once chocolate and butter are melted smooth, stir in vanilla extract.

5. Whip eggs (in stand mixer or with hand mixer) on medium speed until frothy. Add the sugar and mix on high until pale and thick (the ribbon stage); this may take 3-5 minutes.

6. Sift the flour and toss in the salt. I usually don’t sift flour for cookies, but since these are more of a cake batter, I take the extra 30 seconds to do it. 

7. Add the flour and salt to the egg mixture in three batches, scraping down the sides as needed.

8. Add the melted chocolate mixture to the egg/flour mixture, taking care not to overmix. The batter should be smooth and loose. 

9. Using a small scoop, scoop batter into the greased pan, filling each mold about 2/3 of the way.

10. Bake for 7-9 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Madeleines are done when the tops spring back lightly when touched. If you’re lucky, you’ll even have the classic “hump.”

11. Allow to cool for a few minutes before flipping madeleines out and cooling completely (or not, they are even more delicious warm from the oven).  

*my madeleine pans are pretty big, so if your molds are smaller, you'll get more cookies. Make sure you aren't baking on hot pans; once you flip the madelines out, stick the pans in the refrigerator to cool before baking your next batch.