What are Madeleines
Madeleines are also known as French butter cakes (or cookies depending on who you ask). They originated from the Lorraine region of northeastern France. There are several different legends/stories that talk about how they came about but most of them center around a French woman named (as you might have guessed) Madeleine.
They are a very recognizable treat, with golden-crisp edges, a light and airy middle, and characteristic scalloped-shell shape on one side and a round hump on the other side.
There are many different ways to make madeleines. The classic and most traditional method involves the fundamental ingredients of French baking: flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. However, wanting to switch it up from the traditional, we decided to try something new.
So when Zoe embraced her inner French and got a madeleine baking dish and with St. Patrick’s Day coming up, this matcha madeleine was the first madeleine recipe we tried (but don’t worry, more madeleine recipes will definitely be on the way in the future!).
Tips for making these Matcha Madeleines
One thing mandatory for making madeleines is getting a nice madeleine baking sheet. This ensures that you get perfect scallop shape every time. You can find the one we got here (it was one of the highest-rated madeleine baking sheets on Amazon and you can bake up to 16 at once on this single sheet).
We used a piping bag (aka zip lock bag with a hole in the corner) to add the batter to the pan. However, feel free to use a spoon or scoop although it might be a bit harder.
Definitely make sure to butter/oil the pan and then lightly dust with flour. This ensures that your matcha madeleines pop right out of the molds easily each time. And no need to fill each mold to the top or smooth it out- when they bake, they naturally fill the madeleine mold and puff up.
Timing is everything. In this batch, we accidentally cooked ours for a minute too long (13 minutes instead of 11-12) and some of the scalloped sides had more of a golden-brown color rather than the rich green we were hoping for. Depending on the efficacy of your oven, try to take them out right when the sides start to turn golden.
We obviously decided to go ALL-GREEN for this matcha madeleine recipe in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day. It combines the light light and airy texture of madeleines with the punch of matcha, the citrus zing of lime, and the crunchy bite of crushed pistachio nuts.
Even though these matcha madeleines are all-green, they can also be used for any other holiday or special event (just thinking about it now, you can substitute some grenadine for the matcha/lime in the sugar glaze so that you end up with red and green Christmas madeleines!).
10 St. Patrick’s Day Fun Facts
- Each year, the city of Chicago dyes its river green in celebration of this holiday.
- There are more Irish people living in America than the entire population of Ireland.
- St. Patrick himself was not actually Irish. He was a British-Roman who was kidnapped, shipped to Ireland where he was sold as a slave, escaped, became a cleric, and spread Christianity to Ireland. In doing so, he became known as the founder of Christianity in Ireland.
- In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday, due to the origin story mentioned above.
- Legend has it that St. Patrick was able to rid Ireland of all snakes by beating his drum (however, archaeological records show that Ireland was never inhabited by snakes at at all).
- The official color of St. Patrick was blue rather than green.
- The chances of finding a lucky four-leaf clover are 1:10,000 and at this rate, consider yourself lucky indeed!
- Some say that each leaf of the four-leaf clover represent hope, luck, love, and faith. Others say that St. Patrick used the three leaf clover to represent and explain the Holy Trinity.
- 1737 was the first time that the famous Irish Parade took place in Boston rather than Ireland. Quite an old tradition!
- The word Leprechaun derives from the Middle Irish word, lūchorpān. For etymology, lū means “small” and corp refers to “body”.
Matcha, Lime, & Pistachio Madeleines
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup flour
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp matcha powder
Extras
- 1 cup pistachios moderately crushed
- 2 limes
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp matcha
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and matcha powder, whisking to combine thoroughly. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, and sugar. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones, adding the melted butter, until combined.
- Chill the batter in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours.
- After chilling, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush the madeleine pan with some melted butter and add a light dusting of flour. Add the madeleine batter to the pan (either using a scoop or piping bag). Don’t worry about it being uneven- it will even out while it cooks.
- Cook in oven for 11-12 minutes just until the edges start to turn golden (if you cook for longer, you run the risk of them turning brown instead of green). Let them cool on a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile, make the glaze by combining 1 tbsp lime juice, the zest from 1 lime, the powdered sugar, and the matcha (you can change the consistency by adding a few tsp milk or extra powdered sugar until it reaches the desired consistency).
- When the madeleines are sufficiently cooled, dip each one partially into the glaze and then partially into the crushed pistachios.
Recommended Amazon Products for this Recipe:
This page may contain Amazon Affiliate links that earn us a small commission, at no additional cost to you. We only show products we personally use in our kitchen. See our disclaimer for more information.
