Orange Blossom and Cardamom flavored Madeleines

These french cookies have been on my to-do list for a couple of years. I wonder why I never got to making them. About a year ago, I even went and purchased the madeleine mold from a store - and it was lying there in my basement along with all my other baking accessories. 

They are so easy to make - they look so cute - and they are delicious to taste. It is a cookie but has the texture of a cake. These are just amazing.

I had just got this bottle of orange blossom water and wanted to use it. Orange Blossom water is used a lot in Lebanese/Arabic cooking. Mind you - it does not have a citrus aroma, it is more flowery. Just as the name says, it is orange blossom water. But, the smell is divine. Ofcorse, the best thing to combine with it was crushed cardamom and that how this flavor came up.

The Madeleine Mold

Ingredients

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup butter (melted and cooled)

3 large eggs  at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons orange blossom water

1 teaspoon crushed cardamom

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

powdered sugar, for garnish.

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Sieve/Sift together the flour and baking powder into a bowl and keep aside.

In a mixing bowl, add the sugar and eggs and mix well with an electric mixer till its nice and thick like a sauce. Add the orange blossom water, salt and cardamom powder and mix well. Now add the cooled melted butter and flour and baking powder mixture and fold it gently into the wet mixture until fully incorporated.

Refrigerate this mixture for atleast an hour. Very important step to get the famous hump on a Madeleine.

Grease and dust a madeleine pan. Add the batter to the prepared pan - 1 tablespoon into one well (I used a standard madeleine mold). Bake 12-14 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. 

Remove from oven and cool in the mold for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and dust some powdered sugar for garnish.

I got almost 30 madeleines from this batter - since I have a mold that makes 12 madeleines at a time - I had to use it 3 times.