Air fryer Madeleines are delicious delicate petite french butter cakes that are sometimes referred to as cookies. These shell shaped tea cakes have slight humps, crispy edges and tender crumbs and are traditionally made in the oven. However in keeping with our Air Fryer Yum promise, we would be making Air fryer madeleines today and they are simply the best.
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Air fryer Madeleines Recipe
If you live in the US, Chances are that you’ve looked up ‘Madeleine Costco’ or ‘Madeleine cookies Costco’ I do that too so I know lol. However it’s either they fly off the shelves really quickly or they are seasonal like Walker’s shortbread cookies.
Which ever the case I am more than happy to share my air fryer madeleines recipe with you. Trust me when I say they are so good. With little effort, you get one of the best classic French desserts of all time.
What are Madeleines
Madeleines are delicate French Tea cakes that are made in special shell shaped molds. They have a buttery light tender crumb with almost a melt in your mouth texture.
These mini cakes or cookies have a classic hump when baked because of the air incorporated from whipping the eggs and sugar. The addition of some baking powder to help make it light and airy.
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What you will need
You would need a few ingredients and tools to make this recipe.
Ingredients
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Lemon zest
- All purpose Flour
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder
- Powdered sugar
Tools
- A Stand mixer or hand mixer (important because you need to whip air into the eggs like when making a Genoise sponge cake)
- Mixing bowl
- Spatula
- Silicon Madeleine Mold: I was lucky to find this one that fits right in my air fryer. However the longer molds seem to be more readily available at Amazon and other online stores. For that I would suggest cutting it down to fit. I did that with some of my silicon cupcake molds.
Related: >>> A beginner’s guide to Air fryer baking.
How to make Madeleines in the Air fryer
I am so excited about this recipe cos it’s the absolute best madeleines recipe for your air fryer.
First Gather your ingredients. Melt butter and set aside. Whip the eggs and sugar till light and fluffy (this is a very important step) Add lemon zest and vanilla extract, gently fold in the flour.
Then mix in the melted butter.
At this point you can refrigerate the butter and let it rest for about 30 mins in there.
Scoop batter into molds and bake at 330°F / 166°C for 13 mins. You would need to turn out the cakes and bake the other side at about 10 mins.
Flavor variations
- Chocolate chip Madeleines: Perfect vanilla flavored mini cakes with dots of chocolate chips.
- Orange Madeleines: Traditionally Madeleines are made with lemon zest. Swap out the lemon zest with orange zest to make this flavor variation.
- Chocolate Madeleines: A nice and decadent variation made with cocoa powder. You can throw in some chocolate chips in there for more deliciousness.
- Keto or Low carb Madeleines: These are sugar free and made with almond flour and that are so good.
- Brown butter Flavor: Use brown butter instead regular melted butter.
How to store
Madeleines are best eaten fresh, however you can get away with storing them overnight or up to 2 days in an air tight container. They are likely to lose a bit of the texture but will still taste delicious.
Recipe notes and Tips
- The secret to the nice texture is in whipping the sugar and eggs. Whip till mixture thickens and becomes pale yellow.
- If you don’t have powder sugar for decorating, leave it out completely or blend some granulated sugar in a coffee grinder or blender, that’s how to make homemade powdered sugar.
- The molds will take about a tablespoon of batter each, an ice cream scoop of that size will make it easier to measure it out evenly.
- The batter has a thick shiny / glossy look.
Your Frequently Asked Questions Answered
Are madeleines cookies or cakes?
They are tea cakes which are often also certain cookies.
Are these vegan?
Madeleines are traditionally not vegan therefore this recipe isn’t vegan. To make it vegan you can use your favorite vegan cake batter to make it vegan.
More Air fryer Desserts
- Air fryer s’mores dip
- Funfetti Cupcakes
- Air fried Oreos
- Chocolate baked oatmeal
- S’mores in the air fryer
- All air fryer desserts
Check out all our >>>Air fryer Recipes!
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Happy Air frying!
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Air fryer Madeleines
Equipment
- Cake Mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Madeleine mold
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter (113g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 2 Large eggs
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest optional
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour (120g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
Serving suggestions:
- 2 Tablespoons confectioners sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Add baking powder to flour, mix and sift to aerate the flour.
- Melt butter and set aside to cool
- Whisk eggs and sugar in bowl till mixture thickens and becomes lighter in color this could take anywhere between 6-8 minutes if using stand mixer and about 8 -10 mins with a hand mixer.
- Mix in Lemon zest and vanilla extract
- Fold in the flour till incorporated. The batter would seem very thick. Don’t worry it will loosen up when you add the butter.
- Mix in the butter till it’s incorporated, at this point the batter looks beautifully glossy. I like to bake it immediately however traditional recipes recommend letting it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 mins.
- To chill the batter, cover the bowl with cling film making sure it touches the surface of the batter. Refrigerate for about 15 to 30 mins.
- Grease the Madeleine pans with cake release. Scoop batter by tablespoonful into pans and bake at 330°F / 166°C for 10 mins then bring it out and gently bring out the cookie/cakes and place them shell side up. Continue baking for another 2- 3 minutes This will help brown the shell design side better.
- Set cookies on a cookie rack to cool completely while you bake the other batches.
- When it’s cool dust with confectioners sugar and enjoy.
- Serve with tea or coffee
The recipe doesn't say how many eggs
Hi Chris,
Sorry about that. It should be 2 Large eggs. Thank you for letting me know. Enjoy!
What an awesome idea! I am still learning my air fryer and this recipe was perfect for it!
Can't believe what can be prepared un the air-fryer. It amazes me. I was sceptical that these cakes would actually bake but pleasantly surprised that they did. I melted some dark chocolate and dipped the cakes in and the kids loved them.
Hi Jac
Yay! To everything in the air fryer! Well almost lol. Thanks for the feedback! Happy you enjoyed it.
I love coming a across a new recipe for my air fryer! These were amazing!! My family was all over them! Remaking these for sure!
I had no idea you could make madelines in the air fryer!! It seems like so much easier to use the air fryer than to bake them in the oven! I can't wait to try this recipe!
Fantastic! The recipe was simple and the results were delicious. I'll defo be making these again
Hi Garvin!
Thank you
I was wandering what is the name of the dough gun that has different disc for different shapes of cookie dough I would like to purchase on before Christmas
TIA
Melanie Harvey
Hi Melanie!
What you are referring to is called a cookie press. Thanks