Episode of the Chocolate Madeleine: Chocolate Orange Madeleines

Earlier this week I decided to make some madeleines for an afternoon reception, and I thought it might be nice to have some variety from my usual lemon madeleines. So I decided to try Nick Malgieri's recipe for "Chocolate Orange Madeleines" from Chocolate. The recipe is very quick to put together -- you just whisk together eggs, orange zest, and orange extract (I didn't have extract, but I used one-fourth the amount of orange oil instead), whisk in sugar, add melted butter, and fold in the sifted dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, and baking soda). You pour the batter into buttered madeleine molds, and 15 minutes later, you have cute little madeleines.

I am a big fan of chocolate and orange together (for instance, I love chocolate orange brownies), and I enjoyed these madeleines. They were moist and I liked their smooth chocolate-orange flavor. However, I still prefer the regular lemon madeleines (the two types are pictured together above). Perhaps the chocolate madeleines just weren't quite chocolatey enough. Malgieri suggests that the madeleines are tasty when dipped in tempered chocolate, and I'm thinking that a coating of chocolate would make these not just good, but great.

Recipe: "Chocolate Orange Madeleines," from Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers, by Nick Malgieri.

Previous Posts:

• "For the Hostess with the Mostess: Madeleines," July 24, 2010.
• "Bake One for the Gipper this Passover," March 30, 2010.
• "Stuck in the House with a Bunch of Pistachios: Nut Brittle and Madeleines," December 28, 2009.
• "A Mysterious Midnight Bite," July 8, 2008.