The Font Feast Presents Chocolate-Flecked Orange-Scented Madeleines

When Ciera and I first started talking about The Font Feast, one of the examples I pitched to her was a recipe for Madeleines inspired by the lovely, delicate font Matilde. And I’ve been meaning to make that pairing happen ever since! For anyone not in the know, Madeleines are light, delicate little cookies that are really more like tiny cakes. They are ever-so slightly sweet, deliciously buttery, and always baked in a scalloped, shell-shaped pan. They are so good on their own, and extra special dunked in tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or ice-cold milk. These Madeleines have just a hint of citrus flavor from a sprinkling of orange zest, and tiny freckles of milk and dark chocolate to make them even more delicious!

Chocolate-Flecked Orange-Scented Madeleines Inspired by Matilde Font

adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon orange zest
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
12 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3 oz chocolate, finely chopped (I used equal parts milk and semisweet chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. If your madeleine pans* are at all dark, preheat the oven to 325°F instead. Spray the pans thoroughly with a nonstick cooking spray that contains flour, and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and orange zest in a medium bowl, and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high speed until lightly and frothy, about 1 minute. Briefly beat in the vanilla. While mixing on medium, gradually add the sugar, then turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until the mixture has tripled in volume, 3-5 minutes. Using a spatula, gently fold in the flour mixture, then the butter, then the chopped chocolate. Scoop a Tablespoon of batter into each shell-shaped well, and place the madeleine pans in the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of one cookie comes out clean. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

*If you don’t have a madeleine pan, but you’re just dying to try these tasty little cookie-cakes, you can use a mini muffin pan. The resulting cakelets technically won’t be Madeleines, but they’ll taste exactly the same.

About the author: Melissa writes about her adventures in food, family, and farming at Lulu the Baker. She develops recipes, cooks, and photographs for The Font Feast column.