Chocolate Covered Gingerbread Madeleines

I do this thing every year where I decide to vacation during the month of November.  It's awesome because I get to to escape the city and the mundanes of daily life and sneak away for one last sun kissed tan in before the sun goes away for four months.  It's awful because I come home, catch a cold, have to wear pants because it's dropped 20* and oh look it's December!  I have no idea where November went this year... one minute I was on a boat in the Bahamas, the next I was back in the states, downing Gingerbread lattes, shopping for Christmas mugs at Target and planning fancy holiday outfits.

When it came time to decide what to bring to my friend Rachelle's cookie exchange -- while wearing my favorite hot pink fleece gingerbread pajamas and sipping gingerbread tea out of my gingerbread man mug mind you  --it was no surprise that I went with something gingerbread.  My first thought was my gingerbread chocolate chip cookies.  They're easy to make.  I've made them before.  But that seemed too boring for a cookie exchange.  Then I thought about how easy madeleines are to make and contemplated making some of those instead -they just look fancy.  While debating the hard question of which cookie to bake, I came to the realization that instead of choosing between the two, I could combine the two.  Hashtag Cookie Genius.

Taking a page from the chocolate dipped orange madeleines I made last year, I finished these gingerbread madeleines with a dark chocolate drizzle.    Gingerbread plus dark chocolate is one of my favorite holiday flavor combinations afterall.  Remember the Gingerbread S'mores Cupcakes?  

Gingerbread Madeleines
Adaptation Source.
Makes 34. Bake at 375* for 7-8 minutes.

4 room temp eggs
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp molasses
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
(Optional:  1 cup mini chocolate chips)

Directions:
1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger and set aside.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat eggs on high for about three minutes.
3. Add salt to the eggs, and then the sugar.  Sugar should be added slowly over the course of five minutes by the spoonful.  Eggs will become white and frothy.
4. Add in vanilla and molasses and beat on high speed until fully incorporated.
5. Stop the stand mixer and fold in flour and butter in additions, starting and ending with the flour.  Mix until smooth.
6. Scoop batter into butter and floured madeleine pan and bake for about 7 minutes.
7.  Melt chocolate in microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between.  Scoop melted chocolate into a piping bag and decorate cookies once they are cooled.

Tip:  Madeleines taste best 1-3 days after baking.  This allows the butter flavor to really set in.

Do you know what taste's good with these?  Gingerbread tea.  In a gingerbread mug... lol.  I'm totally that girl.

I apologize for my Gingebread Cheer.  No not really.

Do you know what else you can do to these bad boys?  Add in mini chocolate chips to the batter (about 1 cup) for EXTRA chocolately goodness.  See?

How was the cookie exchange you may ask?  Awesome.  Who doesn't love a giant plate of cookies?

Or 10 plates of them.  Don't worry we did more than just eat our weight in butter and sugar.  We mixed up some royal icing and decorated some sugar cookies too. That counts as activity, right?

I have to bake again this weekend ('tis the season to get fat afterall).  I'll try not to wear my penguin pajamas as I think of a cookie/cupcake because I don't want to find out what penguins taste like.  =/

xoxo,
Anna

Happy Unbirthday Funfetti Madeleines

I told you I loved sprinkles.

Do you know who else does?  My dear friend Rochelle.

It's also NOT her birthday today.  It's in 3 weeks.  March 5th, March 25th - an easy mistake to make.  One that I made when I baked these a few days ago.  After I had taken pictures and packaged them up to mail to Philadelphia (our friendship is somewhat of a long distance romance), I double checked and saw that I was off by 20 days.  Oops.

Oh well, who doesn't love cookies the month of their birthday anyways? And who doesn't love sprinkles?

These were super easy to make.  Although I admit I might have used up the rest of this bottle of sprinkles on this project.   Maybe if  I hadn't used more than half the bottle a few weeks ago to make myself a necklace I would have had more.  But I think this will do just fine for Unbirthday Funfetti madeleines.

Funfetti/Sprinkle Madeleines
Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes.  Makes 30. 

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for brushing molds
1 1/4 c. sifted cake flour1/2 tsp. baking powder1/4 tsp. salt3 large eggs1 tsp. vanilla2/3 c granulated sugar1 tablespoon sprinkles, plus additional for sprinkling (ha). 

Directions:1. Melt butter in microwaveable bowl and set aside to cool.  Brush on additional mixture onto madeline pans.  (You literally brush it into the little crevices so that the cookies don't stick to the pan.)
3. In mixer, beat eggs on high until foamy, add in vanilla.  Add in sugar and beat until mixture triples in volume.
4. Fold in flour to sugar/egg mixture, slowly and in additions until combined.
7. Fill madeline pans with batter.  Add a pinch of sprinkles to the top of the batter so that the colors remain prominent. 

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Fold butter in.
6. Add tablespoon of sprinkles and gently fold in.
8. Bake in oven.


She didn't complain one bit at the very early arrival of a package.  I mean, would you?  I can describe the fun colors for you, but you can see them.  All I can really say is SPRINKLES.

I've been chomping at the bit to make something with sprinkles. Maybe that's why I got too excited and forgot the date of her real birthday?  Unfortunately though, this has not satisfied my urge what so ever.  If you check out my pinterest inspiration board you will see it overflowing with rainbows.  All the Easter pastels and colors at Target aren't helping either.  Who knows what else I'll come up with between now and then?  ;)

But for now, i'll leave you with these lovely madeleines made for an even lovelier girl .

Happy Unbirthday Roch.  You are an amazing, intelligent, determined and strong woman.  Thank you for being a constant inspiration in my life.

xoxo,
Anna

Classic Vanilla Madeleines

Madeleines are probably in my top three favorite cookies of all time. Ever. I discovered them at Starbucks while cutting P.E. class during high school and have been in love ever since.

This is the second round of plain vanilla madeleines I have made.  This recipe calls for a lot of butter.  A lot.  Haha.  That's what makes cookies so good after all, right?  Lots of melted butter.  A stick and a half to be exact.

Madeleines had always seemed so hard to make that it took me years to build up the courage to make them but I finally caved a few weeks/months ago and bought a pan.  The pan forced me to make them and now I admit they are so easy to make it is ridiculous.  (Does this mean I should move on and try the ever-daunting macaroons???)

Recipe taken from here.

Vanilla Madeleines 
Makes around 30 full sized madelines. Bake at 350* for about 8-10 minutes.


1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for brushing molds
1 1/4 c. sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c granulated sugar
(Optional: confectioners sugar for dusting)

Directions:
1. Melt butter in microwaveable bowl and set aside to cool.  Brush on additional mixture onto madeline pans.  (You literally brush it into the little crevices so that the cookies don't stick to the pan.)

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In mixer, beat eggs on high until foamy, add in vanilla.  Add in sugar and beat until mixture triples in volume.
4. Fold in flour to sugar/egg mixture, slowly and in additions until combined.

5. Fold butter in.
6. Fill madeline pans with batter and bake.

I know I love to talk about ziplock bags a alot, but seriously I cannot stress how awesome they are.  Have you tried this yet?

Spoon in the batter (or icing if you are frosting) into the bag... but put the bag in a tall cup first.  This prevents you from getting batter all over your hands.  I am an expert at that, by the way.

Then just gently but quickly squeeze the batter into the molds.

Nothing is more exciting than seeing a tray full of cookies just begging to be baked into something good.

I think they taste better the second or third day.  So make a lot, because they just get better with age.  :)  I made these for Mother's Day, actually.  I have a tendency to bake my mom things (read as cupcakes) for her birthday and have her not like them...  so i decided to go with Madeleines because she had liked a previous batch I had made.  Apparently my sweet tooth is not genetic because the reason she likes these so much is because they are not too sweet.  Strange, I know.

These are obviously, just plain vanilla ones.  Generously sprinkled with powdered sugar of course.

I tried strawberry ones but I need to make some tweaks before I post them on the blog.  I also have a few more ideas for next month -- I am preparing some sweet treats for our annual tail gating party.  You'll see some orange and black on here soon.  ;)

xoxo,
Anna