Noble Ale Works is a brewery in Anaheim, CA who makes great beer. Now that you all know this fact, there is no excuse not to go. The head brewer, Evan, is the genius behind the brain child that is the Rosalita beer. This beer is bright red/pink in color and was steeped with hibiscus flowers. It’s so unique and inventive. The base beer is a lager style which allows the flavor to really shine. The flavors of cranberry, rose, floral tea, and hibiscus lend a hand to these little madeleines. This tart and light beer works so well with these little cakes.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of AP flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

3 large eggs plus two large egg yolks

3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon of beer

1 teaspoon of orange zest

3/4 cups of melted unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)

Frosting:

1/4 cup of beer

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 tablespoon of corn syrup

Directions:

1. Sift flour and baking powder and salt together into a bowl, set aside.

2. Put eggs, yolks, beer, granulated sugar, beer and zest into an electric mixer with a paddle attachment and allow to mix until light in color and frothy. About 5 minutes. Take this time to melt the butter and set aside to cool. Mix in the butter and using a spatula fold in the flour mixture.

3. Be sure to take the time to fold in the flour mixture, otherwise the madeleines will be rubbery from being over-mixed. Trust me, I have done that before and it was not good. Cover your mixture with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt a tablespoon of butter (unsalted) and using a pastry brush or a paper towel butter your madeleine pans. Once your pans are buttered, put in the fridge to allow the butter to set. The pans need about 10 mins in the fridge to set.

5. Using two spoons, place little spoon full of batter into the madeleine pan wells. Using the full-size pan, place enough to basically fill the well. If using a mini-madeleines pan, fill the wells 3/4 full. These will spread more.

6. Bake for about 8 minutes, rotating one halfway through. I prefer my madeleines to have a crunchy edge and get a little brown so I cook mine for more like 10-12 minutes but I have to hover over them so they don’t burn. It’s really all about preference.

7. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then on a wire rack until cool completely. You don’t want to leave them in the pan for too long otherwise any residual butter will make the cookies soggy.

8. Whisk together the frosting ingredients and if it’s too thick, add some more beer. If it’s too thin, add some more powdered sugar. Bush on the cooled madeleines. I added some extra orange zest that I tossed in granulated sugar to the top after bushing the frosting on. It was a nice addition and wasn’t too sweet. Allow frosting to harden. It will take about 1-2 hours give or take.

These madeleines were a huge hit. They are crunchy, sweet, floral, citrusy and soft. There is something so satisfying about them. They are a cross between a doughnut and a cupcake and a cookie in the most perfect way. The beer really added so much to this recipe. The color changed a little from the beer, but I did add a little food coloring (I use the gel kind) to accentuate the color. I didn’t add any food coloring to the frosting, which ended-up being a light pink color. The hibiscus added a slight rose-water taste but wasn’t perfume-like. I think the zest helped bring out the best in the flavor profile.

Yield: 24 madeleines (full-size)

Lasts: 2-3 days

Season: All seasons

Level: Beginner