Name: Madeleines
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1 cup (4 ounces/113 grams) cake flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2 large eggs plus 1 large yolk; 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces/99 grams) sugar; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; 10 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled

Why This Recipe Works

The light, airy treats are unlike any other cookie; they're sponge cakes in cookie form, with a beautiful ridged exterior formed by the shell-shaped tins in which they are baked. But despite their appeal, madeleines aren't easy to find. Fortunately, this French treat is easy to prepare, so we felt confident that making them in our American kitchen would be a simple task. For madeleines with a light, tight crumb, we used downy-soft cake flour rather than all-purpose flour, which made our madeleines too tough. To cool the baked madeleines without ruining their ridged exteriors, we let them sit in the greased molds for 10 minutes after baking to set their exteriors before transferring them to a wire rack. This way, the rack didn't imprint lines on our cookies as they cooled.

Before You Begin

This recipe calls for a 12-cookie madeleine mold; even if you have two molds, be sure to bake them one at a time.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12-cookie madeleine mold. Whisk flour and salt together in small bowl.

Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat eggs and yolk on medium-high speed until frothy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until very thick, 3 to 5 minutes. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in flour mixture, followed by melted butter.

Spoon half of batter into prepared mold, filling mold to rim. Bake until madeleines are golden and spring back when pressed lightly, about 10 minutes, rotating mold halfway through baking.

Let cookies cool in mold for 10 minutes. Remove madeleines from mold and transfer to wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter. Let madeleines cool completely before serving.