Madeleines: shell shaped cookies.

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What are Madeleines?

Madeleines are cookies baked in a special-shaped pan. You can find the pans in very large and very small molded sizes. According to The French Cookie Book by Bruce Healy, the varied shapes of the Madeleine cookie family come in shell, ovals, gem pans, turbans, barquettes and tartlet shapes. Madeleines are great for tea pastry cookies, and since they are decorative are nice for dessert buffets for your holiday events. The traditional shell-shaped cookies are known for their distinctive 'humps' on the opposite side of the shell decoration. Look for this in all Madeleines since when served the humps are usually up. (Except when pictured here, for the benefit of the shell decoration.) Here are some tips when making Madeleines:

Don't overbeat the eggs or the cookies will not rise properly. I know it may seem to defeat the purpose of using such a beautiful pan, but the main object is to get the perfect hump on the cookies not the shell shape.
Serve them fresh.
Some batters may seem excessively thin, but as the butter cools it will thicken.
When using a recipe calling for orange or lemon zest, be sure to use a very fine grater and then only grate the colored part of the rind to avoid bitterness.
I prefer a pastry bag to pipe out the batter. Place a smallish round tip (I like to use Ateco 803 size) in a pastry bag and scrunch down some of the bag into the tip to stop up the whole. This is especially necessary if the batter is quite thin. Spoon the batter into the bag and twist at the top to close. When you are ready to pipe, un-scrunch the tip end of the bag and twist the bag a few more turns to allow the batter to come out and begin piping. When doing many at a time, it's a time saver and more efficient than spooning them or scooping them, although scooping is quite acceptable.
Let them rest just a moment before turning them out since some batters are especially fragile.
If using a dark metal pan for the Madeleines, experiment with a couple to see how dark they become. You may need to adjust the timing or temperature to prevent overbrowning.
Madeleines may be dipped in melted chocolate before serving.
And remember: 'hump' and 'fresh' are the only two real standards for a Madeleine, so have fun experimenting and try adding your own flavors to your basic recipe.

The popular recipes for Madeleines have orange or lemon zest for flavoring, and some have an almond flour base to them while others have the distinctive taste of browned butter. One of the unifying factors for all Madeleine recipes is that it contains butter, no substitutions for melted margarine here. If clarified butter is called for in a recipe, use that. Below is a recipe for Honey Madeleines, a pleasing flavor for these special cookies.

Honey Madeleines
This recipe calls for honey and brown sugar. If making these for a holiday, try adding a pinch of spice to the dry ingredients or maybe for a summer tea a pinch of finely grated lemon zest.

3 1/2 oz sugar
1 oz brown sugar
3 whole eggs
1 oz honey
Pinch of salt
1/2 t baking powder
4 1/2 oz flour
4 1/2 oz melted cooled unsalted butter

Butter or spray chosen Madeleine pans. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Place the sugars, eggs, honey and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand up mixer. Allow to whip until light. Remove from mixer and carefully fold in the dry ingredients in two parts, then fold in the melted butter. Spoon or pipe batter into prepared Madeleine pans and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the pan and how well they are filled. Let rest a moment then turn them out on a rack to cool.

References used:

Healy, Bruce. The French Cookie Book. New York: William, 1994.

Recipe from the files of Renee Shelton.