Chocolate Dipped Madeleines

One of the ladies here at the deathstar will be retiring in the next couple of months and today was her birthday. I usually don’t go overboard for people here unless I’m really close to them, but since it is her last birthday here I decided to do something a bit fancier than usual. She loves chocolate, but everybody always makes her all kinds of chocolate so I wanted to do something different that would be a real treat. I decided I wanted to do some kind of cookie and at first I considered making pumpkin moon pies with a confection/cream cheese filling and dipped in chocolate, but decided I didn’t have time for that. So I decided to make chocolate dipped madeleines instead. Now if you aren’t familiar with what madeleines are, they are similar to shortbread cookies, but lighter. After I dipped them I drizzled white icing over the chocolate part so that it looked like lattice. They came out wonderfully, but of course I totally forgot to take a picture of them to post here…**sigh** (Sooooo I went online and found a picture of some plain choc dipped madeleines so you can see what they look like...see above).

Soooo I decided to share the recipe so some of you can make them too if you wish. Like I said I drizzled white icing on the chocolate part of mine but you can also sprinkle on, minced nuts, sugar shots, colored sugars or those little bb’s if you like. They are also WONDERFUL if you add cocoa to the batter and make chocolate, chocolate dipped madeleines.

You will need a special Madeleine pan, and they aren’t that expensive. They come in two sizes, regular size madeleines and minis. You can get a regular sized non-stick one for about $13.00. The pans look like this




Madeleine Cookies

Ingredients:
· 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
· 1 cup cake flour
· 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
· pinch salt
· 3 eggs
· 3/4 cup granulated sugar
· 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
· 1 tub Baker’s Dipping Chocolate
· 1 tube white icing with interchangeable tips

Makes: About 1 1/2 dozen madeleines.

instructions
Melt butter in microwaveable bowl. Skim off foam from surface; keep warm. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In medium bowl, combine eggs and granulated sugar. Whip on high speed with electric mixer until thick and lemon-colored, about 3 minutes. Fold in orange zest. Gradually stir in warm butter. Fold in flour mixture. Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray Madeleine pan with vegetable pan spray with flour. Spoon about 1 tablespoon batter into each cavity. Bake 13-14 minutes until Madeleine are firm to the touch. Remove pan from oven and immediately turn pan over onto cooling grid; gently tap pan to release Madeleines.

While cookies cool follow directions on tub of dipping chocolate and then dip end of cookie into chocolate making sure front and back of top are covered. Set down on waxed paper to decorate. (if using icing let chocolate harden completely first)

ENJOY!!