Those are Santa madeleines. This is a fun Christmas treat to prepare with children and adults. My older daughter – who is 11 years old – ha that idea for her classmates. The teacher had placed a Christmas sock at the back of each student’s chair. I think those Santas did not stay long in the socks!
It is fun to make those Santa madeleines, not just for the children, I found that pretty cool too!
Before you start, it may be a good idea to wear aprons.
The concept of the Santa madeleine
Make a bunch of madeleines. You will need the special madeleine prints for this. The recipe I use is HERE. If you aren’t a fan of the lemon taste, don’t put any, you can put a dash of good quality vanilla extract.
You will need food colouring of a rich red colour from your supermarket.
Once the madeleines have cooled down, you can start the icing and complete your Santa madeleines! Note that the icing will need a few hours to dry fully, overnight is better.
You will need to make a white icing, a red icing and have found some little eyes bits (from the shops) for the eyes. If you want to add a pompon-like item, you can find little sugar stars for example. you will find those in the baking section of the shops.
Making and applying the icing
To prepare the icing, you need:
- one lemon or two squeezed lemons
- 2-3 cups of icing sugar sifted (to avoid any lumps)
- the red food colouring
For the white icing, place a cup of the sifted icing sugar in a bowl, add about 1/2 lemon juice. Just add a little at the time and start mixing. You basically want something quite pasty, a bit like Nutella when at room temperature (or maybe a tiny bit more fluid). If you went too far, i.e. your icing is too liquid, add more sugar!
For the red, start with the red food colouring and then add the lemon juice. Aim for the same consistency a the white. Be mindful to not mix the utensils you are using.
To apply the icing on your Santa madeleines
When there are kids involved, I am all for simple tools. We used toothpicks to draw the hat border and small spoons for the beard and hat.
To attach the eyes on your Santa madeleine, put a little white icing underneath each eye and “glue” them to the madeleine.
To clean your kitchen bench
The red icing is messy (the white as well but it cleans without a trace). Use baking soda and a bit of water to form a paste and rub your kitchen bench. it should come off very well!
