Orange Madelines with Cardamom Glaze

Crispy edges, soft, cake like inside. Sweet and buttery, yet with a refreshing citrus flavor.
When I first bit into these, everything around me stopped moving. The voices of my children could no longer be heard. Even the snow outside stopped falling.

Okay maybe not, but I can honestly say that when I first tasted these delectable, little cookies, I could not believe how light and delicious they were!
You have to make them and see for yourself. Read the recipe in its entirety before you start. I had no idea that I would be beating the mixtures for a total of 10 minutes or more!
They are totally worth every minute of time you put into them.
You need a madeline pan to make these.

The tiny black flecks would be the cardamom in the glaze. Cardamom has a peppery taste, and it lends a little earthy, balance to the sweetness of the cookie.

So are you drooling yet?


Recipe:

2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. orange extract
1 tsp. shredded orange peel ( a micro plane zester makes the best zest.)
1 cup powdered sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray pan with non stick spray. Sift together flour and baking powder in small bowl, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs, orange extract, and orange peel on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat another 5 minutes or until thick.
Gently fold in flour mixture, then melted butter, mix until smooth. Spoon mixture into the cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake approximately 8 minutes, or until edges are light brown. Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, loosen cookies with a knife, then invert pan on a rack. Cool thoroughly before glazing.

Glaze:

As usual, I didn't measure the ingredients! Sorry. I'm going off memory here, and you know how that goes.

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs. milk
1/4 tsp. cardamom

Mix all three ingredients together. The glaze should be runny so it soaks into the cookie, instead of standing on top. The cookies are already really sweet so you don't need much glaze per cookie.


Enjoy!