Eggnog Madeleines

12 Days of Christmas Cookies Day 12! I just love eggnog, and I wait until after Thanksgiving to indulge since I know it is so bad for me. It’s really the only thing that is Christmasy that I do wait: I do much of my Christmas shopping as early as possible and it seems like the Christmas music comes earlier and earlier.  I like to try different recipes with eggnog, but sometimes I am disappointed that the finished product doesn’t retain the strong eggnog flavor that I started with. These will not disappoint.

These Madeleines started out at cookies and I baked one batch of cookies and the cookies spread horribly. Since they dough was very similar to cake batter (you even make the dough using a cake batter method), I thought that they would be good as Madeleines. I was right. They turned out perfectly as Madeleines. And what could be fancier than shell-shaped little cake/cookies?

I used very high quality eggnog from a local dairy, and it was really thick. Great for the cookies, but it made the glaze tricky to work with. I kept trying to thin the glaze but the eggnog was so thick it didn’t help. I finally just figured it would work and it was fine, although a little on the thick side. This will make about 4-5 dozen Madeleines, as a little dough goes a long way. You could also bake them on a regular cookie sheet and make rounds, just don’t use too much dough or your cookies will spread like crazy! I hope you liked this year’s round of Christmas cookies and was inspired to try something new.

Eggnog Madeleines

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

¾ cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cups eggnog

2-3 tablespoons eggnog

1 cup powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

With the mixer on low, add the flour and the eggnog, a little at a time, alternating between the two. Stir just until combined. Chill for 30 minutes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush melted butter in two Madeleine pans (or line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats).

Scoop 1 teaspoon of dough in each Madeleine indentation or onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Allow to cool in the Madeleine pans for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. You may need to use a butter knife to gently pry the Madeleines from the pan.

Make the glaze: in a small bowl, whisk together the eggnog and powdered sugar. As you will be brushing on the glaze, you want it to be fairly thin. Add more eggnog if the glaze is too thick.   Brush the glaze on the Madeleines and allow to set.

Recipe adapted from Savory Simple