Madeleines are beautiful “squat, plump little cakes”immortalized by Marcel Proust, and loved by generations. I like to think of them as French biscotti in a sense because they are purrrfect with coffee. Since I baked bunches of them for “French Cafe at Home,” I’ve had a surplus of madeleines on hand, and no lie, I have one every morning dunked in my coffee. What better way to start the day than with cake? I justify it by telling myself I have aaaallllll day to burn those extra calories!

Vanilla madeleines are lovely in and off themselves, but there are lots of great ways to make them a little extra. One of my favorites is to either dunk them in chocolate (just melt some chocolate chips in the microwave), or slice them in half and spread a little Nutella in between, and then roll the edges in chopped pistachios. Manifique!

You will need:

• 3 room temperature eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 stick melted butter (1/2 cup)
• 2 TBS packed brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• ungodly amounts of Nutella (if desired)
• 1/2 cup chopped pistachios (if desired)

Preheat the oven to 400. Generously butter a madeleine pan. Set aside.

Whip the eggs, sugar, and brown sugar together on high speed until frothy and a light buttery color. Drop in the vanilla.

While your eggs and sugar are whipping up, melt the butter. Set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt together in a sifter, and sift it into a large mixing bowl. Gently add it to the egg mixture in thirds.  Try not to deflate the egg/sugar mixture as much as possible. After the flour mixture is all incorporated, remove 3/4 cup of the batter to a medium mixing bowl. Pour in the melted butter and whisk together with the separated batter. Then mix the butter mixture back into the rest of the batter in the larger bowl.

Chill the batter for one hour.

Scoop the batter into a generously buttered madeleine pan, using a small cookie scoop. About a TBSP per mold. Bake at 400 for 8-9 minutes until the edges are just barely browning. You’ll know you made a good madeleine parfait when you see those lovely humps!

To take them up a notch, after they have cooled, slice the madeleines in half and spread a tablespoon of Nutella on top of one half. Put the other half back on top and squeeze it slightly so the Nutella protrudes…oozes…(can’t find the right verb!) out the sides. Roll the edges in chopped pistachios, they should stick to the Nutella, and voila! A decadent dessert! Or simply melt some chocolate chips in the microwave, give them a dunk, and kiss them with sprinkles 😉