Pumpkin Spice Latte Madeleines

Poets have waxed poetic about madeleines for decades, but these days we’re more likely to wax poetic about pumpkin spice lattes than a pretty French tea cake. As a pumpkin spice fan who has been known to get poetic a time or two, it seemed like a batch of Pumpkin Spice Latte Madeleines was one of the most appropriate treats that I could create this pumpkin spice season.

Like the drink that they are named after, these madeleines do not contain any pumpkin. If you’re after pumpkin madeleines made with real pumpkin, however, I have a fabulous recipe for that. The madeleines have vanilla, coffee and pumpkin pie spice in them. This combination of flavors comes together to capture the essence of the ever-popular pumpkin spice latte in a delicious fall snack. As I am a coffee fan, I think that these are delicious and love the way the subtle coffee flavor sets them apart from pumpkin spice-only treats.

There are a couple of ways to get the coffee flavor into the madeleines. You can use instant coffee, as I suggest in the recipe below, as a quick and easy way to bring in some coffee flavor. It is inexpensive and readily available. If you have it, however, I recommend using instant espresso powder or Starbucks Via, as both of those will bring in a more distinct coffee note. Whatever type of instant coffee you’re using, mix it in with the melted butter to ensure that it has completely dissolved before pouring it in to the rest of the batter. The finished madeleines should be uniform in color, not speckled with undissolved coffee.

The tea cakes are ready to eat as soon as they come out of the oven. They should slide out of the pan easily after they’ve had a minute or two to cool – especially if you’re using a nonstick pan. When fresh, they’re crisp on the pan side and tender on the reverse. They’ll soften a bit as they cool, but they’ll still be delicious, tender and flavorful fall cakes.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Madeleines
2 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
8 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp instant coffee*
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease and flour your madeleine pans (unless you are using nonstick, in which case light greasing is all that is necessary).
In a large bowl, beat together eggs and sugar until smooth and thick, 1-2 minutes. Add in salt, flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix until it is just combined, and no streaks of flour remain visible.
To the melted butter, stir in the vanilla extract, instant coffee and pumpkin pie spice. Stir until the coffee is dissolved. Slowly pour the melted butter mixture in to the flour mixture, mixing at low speed until the batter is uniform and everything is well combined.
Place a generous 1 tbsp batter into each cavity of your prepared pan.
Bake for 12-14 minutes, until cookies are golden around the edges.
Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes before removing from the pan. The pan should be cooled, regreased and floured before filling it with more batter (it is ok if the batter is be used in batches) for another batch.

Makes about 2 dozen.

*You can substitute 1 tsp instant espresso powder or 1 1/2 tsp Starbucks Via.