Chocolate Peppermint Madeleines

Elegant and festive, these chocolate peppermint madeleines are guaranteed to impress, but are surprisingly easy (and fairly quick!) to make. And because it’s the holidays, we’re finishing them with a dip in melted chocolate and a sprinkle of crushed candy canes. If you have a madeleine pan and a mixer, you can make these French patisserie-worthy treats!

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of biting into a madeleine, you’ll know that this classic French tea-time treat is a delicately sweet miniature sponge cake that falls somewhere between a cookie (those crisp buttery edges!) and a cupcake (that springy crumb!). Today we are dressing them up for the holidays with rich cocoa, cool peppermint, and a dip in glossy chocolate. And don’t forget the candy cane crunch, just like we love on these peppermint meltaways!

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Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Peppermint Madeleines

• Soft, tender, cake-like texture with a light, spongey crumb.
• Rich chocolate flavor, without being overly sweet. The flavor reminds me of peppermint hot cocoa.
• Naturally elegant, and perfect for gifting or holiday dessert trays.
• Ready in about an hour, chill time included! The perfect dessert for when you want something impressive but don’t have a ton of time.

If you’ve never made madeleines before, this just may be the recipe that convinces you they are absolutely worth investing in a madeleine pan. These little shell-shaped cakelets look like they came from a fancy bakery, but behind the scenes? They’re made with simple ingredients, require just a short chill, and bake in 10 minutes.

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Key Ingredients (and Why They Matter)

• Eggs: Start with eggs that are room temperature, so they whip up to greater volume, trapping more air and creating a more stable foam.
• Melted Butter: Adds richness and that unmistakable buttery flavor. Melt it first, so it has time to cool slightly before you fold it into the batter.
• All-Purpose Flour: You don’t need much—just enough to add some structure.
• Cocoa Powder: For the smoothest chocolate flavor, use Dutch-processed cocoa in these madeleines. If you can’t find it, you can use natural cocoa powder instead, but the flavor is best with Dutch cocoa (which has been alkalized to neutralize its acidity—read more about the difference between Dutch-processed and natural cocoa powder here).
• Espresso Powder: This is optional; it helps deepen the chocolate flavor.
• Peppermint Extract: A little goes a long way. Start small and adjust next time if you want stronger mint flavor.

You also need granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract. (The chocolate and candy canes are for topping the baked chocolate peppermint madeleines.)

How to Make Chocolate Peppermint Madeleines

Madeleines are known for their signature hump on one side. The keys to achieving that proud belly bump: properly whipping your eggs and sugar, folding with a light hand, chilling the batter, and reducing the oven temperature during baking. Once you’ve nailed those steps, you’ll wonder why madeleines ever seemed intimidating.

The full printable recipe is below, but let me walk you through the steps here, with some visuals to help you along the way.

Start by whipping the eggs + sugar together for a while (at least 8 minutes). Incorporating air here creates the lifted, tender structure madeleines are known for. Don’t skip or shorten this step! Then, beat in the peppermint and vanilla extracts.

Next, sift and then fold in the dry ingredients:

Fold in melted butter. The batter will be glossy and smooth. It will begin to thicken quickly because of the butter solidifying, and that’s completely normal.

Chill the Batter

Just like many of our cookie dough recipes, madeleine batter needs to chill a bit before baking. Letting the batter rest in the refrigerator ultimately helps the madeleines puff up taller in the oven. Taller usually means fluffier, which is exactly what we’re shooting for.

I find around 45 minutes in the refrigerator is the sweet spot.

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Prepare the Madeleine Pan

Melt a bit more butter, and use a pastry brush to brush it in the scalloped wells of the pan.

How much batter per madeleine? I found 1 heaping Tablespoon was plenty. If you have a small cookie scoop, that works great here, but you can really use any Tablespoon and just dollop a mound of batter right into the center of the shell, like this:

Bake for 3 minutes at a high temperature (425°F). This “thermal shock” helps set the shape of the madeleines, lifting that hump straight up. (Sound familiar? This is the same trick we use for tall muffin tops!) Then reduce the temperature (to 350°F) and bake for another 6 minutes, or until the surface springs back when lightly poked.

Invert the pan to release the madeleines and let them cool.

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Finishing Touches

While these are absolutely wonderful with nothing but a dusting of powdered sugar on top, it’s the holiday season, so we are going for glam here.

• Dip in Chocolate: Bittersweet, semi-sweet, or white chocolate all work beautifully.
• Sprinkle With Crushed Candy Canes: The festive finishing touch that adds shine, color, and crunch.

Madeleines have a reputation for being fussy, but once you understand the rhythm… whip, fold, chill, bake hot then low… they’re one of the most rewarding little treats you can make. And unlike many holiday desserts that take an afternoon, these come together quickly. The batter rests for less than an hour, the bake time is about 10 minutes, and decorating is as simple as a dip and sprinkle.

Whether you’re gifting a holiday assortment, hosting a cookie exchange, or craving something a little more sophisticated than your usual December cookie lineup, these chocolate peppermint madeleines bring the perfect mix of technique and festive fun. They look polished and taste like a peppermint hot cocoa!

This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.

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