Making Milan Cookies With the Daring Bakers

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network. They gave us the option of making both recipes or choosing one. Because so much has been going on this month, I opted to make only one. I chose the Milan cookies, as Pepperidge Farm’s Milano Cookies are one of the only store bought cookies I actually think are worth buying (I love them…especially the Mint Milanos), so I was excited to try out a homemade version. If you’re interested in the recipe for the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies, you can find it here.
The cookies were easy enough to make. The batter mixes up in about five minutes and then you pipe out little fingers of batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
I got a bit bored after piping out a gazillion of these, so I started playing around and making different shapes.
My piping skills need some work, but I still managed to get them even enough so that I could make decent sandwich cookies in the end.
After making the filling you just spread a bit of it on the bottom of one cookie, and then find a cookie to match and make a little sandwich.
I actually halved the recipe, as I really didn’t need 3 dozen of these lying around the house tempting me. I also made miniatures instead of full-sized, so that they would be more of a treat for Squirrel. The cookies weren’t what I was expecting. They were okay, but I wouldn’t make them again. I can’t believe that I’m actually going to say this, but I prefer the store bought version. So there you go, “Miss Snobby, ‘I prefer homemade goodies'” just openly admitted to preferring a store bought product. What is this world coming to? The flavors were good but kind of boring and the texture was off for me. These cookies were slightly chewy and I prefer the crispier Pepperidge Farm texture. So ultimately, although they weren’t bad, I felt like they were a waste of time.
Squirrel was a big fan though, and loved having such tiny cookies to nibble on.
One benefit to making miniature cookies is that kids feel like they’re getting more treats, when really, if they have 4 or 5 of these, it equals out to about 1 of the full-sized cookies!

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

12 Tbsp. (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. lemon extract
1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree (Fahrenheit) oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Coming Wednesday: A Trip to the Farmers Market