Pumpkin Spice Madeleine Sandwiches with Caramel Cream

I’ve baked my own madeleine recipe before, be it a classic madeleine recipe or a lemon madeleine recipe. If you’ve never had madeleine cookies before, you should know they’re more like little cakes than the crisp cookies you may be accustomed to.

To make a madeleine cake, you not only need a good recipe but you also need a madeleine pan. The madeleine molds will give the cakes their beautiful shell shape. 

Thankfully, brands like Donsuemor make excellent madeleines that are ready for you to purchase — no pan necessary. And oh mon Dieu, are their madeleines delicious!

Before I knew how to make madeleines or even owned a madeleine pan, I wondered where to buy madeleines from. I had tried a couple brands and wasn’t really happy with the taste or texture.

Then I discovered Donsuemor and I finally felt like I found true French madeleines that were moist, buttery, and perfectly sweet. One bite of their madeleines and I had experienced the “madeleine moment” that Proust so eloquently described in his lengthy work In Search of Lost Time. 

I remembered just why I loved the darling little cakes so much. Their intoxicating flavor and texture had me back in a French boulangerie, delighting in the aroma of butter and sugar. 

More than that, I can count on Donsuemor to make all of their madeleines with high quality ingredients, emphasizing the French philosophy that indulgence is all about quality, not quantity. 

Even today, with a couple of madeleine pans stocked in my baking cabinet and multiple madeleine recipes in my baking arsenal, I still rely on their gorgeous madeleines when the craving hits. 

I don’t always have the time to bake as much as I want to, so well-crafted baked goods like these Donsuemor Pumpkin Spice Madeleines are my go-to for spoiling myself with a cup of coffee in the afternoon. I also use them for semi-homemade entertaining. 

These pumpkin spice madeleines are lovely for fall entertaining. First of all, I adore pumpkin spice flavored baked goods, and Donsuemor does this really well with these madeleines. They’re spiced just right and still just as moist and tender as the classic madeleine recipe. 

To turn these fluffy cakes into a madeleine dessert I can entertain with, I just spruce them up a tiny bit. As a cook and baker, my family and friends have come to expect a little culinary twist from me, otherwise, these madeleines are delicious enough to be served as is. 

To dress these pumpkin spice madeleines up, I dip the madeleines in melted white chocolate and sprinkle chopped pecans on them. Once the chocolate has set, I use a sharp knife to slice the madeleines in half straight through the center. This gives me two madeleine halves for each cake. 

Then, to add a creamy, almost frosting-like component to these little spiced cakes, I sandwich caramel cream in between the madeleine halves. Cream cheese is whipped with heavy cream, sugar, and caramel sauce to create a salty sweet cream filling for these madeleines. 

These fancy pumpkin spice madeleines can be served for tea time, as a dessert after dinner, or just a special treat for your family. I also like keeping an extra box on hand for the rest of the week, when the guests are all gone and it’s just me with my insatiable cravings for French goodies!

To find Donsuemor madeleines near you, please check their store locator here.  

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Madeleines Dessert Sandwiches with Caramel Cream

Yield: 16

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Pumpkin spice madeleines with caramel cream sandwiched in between. 

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Ingredients

• 16 Donsuemor pumpkin spice madeleines
• 8 oz. white chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• neutral oil (i.e. grapeseed, canola), see note

For the caramel cream

• 4 oz. cream cheese, left on the counter at room temperature for 20 minutes
• 3/4 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp caramel sauce

Instructions

1. Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in 15 second increments, stopping to stir the white chocolate each time. Continue up to 1 minute, until the chocolate has melted. If the melted chocolate is too hard to stir or dip the madeleines into, stream in a tiny bit of oil and stir to loosen up.
2. Dip the madeleines halfway into the white chocolate, then place on a sheet of parchment paper/wax paper/or just a plate. 
3. Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the white chocolate, then let the chocolate set until dry. To speed things up, you can transfer your plate of madeleines to the fridge for the chocolate to set more quickly. 
4. Use a sharp knife to split the madeleines in half, cutting into the madeleines horizontally straight through the center. It's okay if they aren't cut perfectly symmetrical. Just do your best to make the halves as even as possible. 

To make the caramel cream

1. Beat the cream cheese with the sugar and caramel sauce in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a handheld mixer. 
2. Once relatively smooth and combined, continue mixing but stream in the heavy cream from the side of the bowl. Whisk together until the mixture has thickened up and the cream is stiff like frosting.  
3. Fill a pastry bag with a star tip, or just a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off, with the caramel cream and pipe the cream onto the bottom halves of the madeleines. Place the top half of the madeleine onto the cream and serve or refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Notes

Melting white chocolate can be trickier than melting dark or milk chocolate. White chocolate tends to seize and/or burn very quickly. This is why it's important to melt the chocolate in increments, stirring it each time and checking on it to make sure it's not browning. If your chocolate is left in the microwave too long and you find that's a bit hard to stir or dip the madeleines into, try to save the chocolate by streaming in a little neutral flavor oil such as canola or grapeseed, or even melted butter. This usually does the trick and helps save the melted chocolate.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 16 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 244