Daring Bakers July Challenge: Milan Cookies

The July Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies by pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

We had the option of baking both cookies or just one. I opted just to do the Milan Cookies as it is stifling hot, I am not a marshmallow fan, and I waited until the last minute! I have not had a Pepperidge Farm Mint Milano cookie in ages, but this take on those reminded me how I could never eat just one of them! I adjusted the recipe slightly by using Lindt Dark Intense Mint chocolate instead of plain chocolate. I thought the combination of the mint along with the orange zest and lemon extract would provide a nice blend of flavors. The rich orange mint chocolate between the two thin layers of vanilla lemon cookies proved to be a winner. My cookie was thinner than a Pepperidge Farm Milano and not as crumbly as I remember the Pepperidge Farm ones to be.

I found the Milan cookies to be fairly easy, though time consuming. The biggest challenge for me was piping the cookie dough with a steady hand. I did fairly well on keeping them a consistent width and length. A few separated a little mainly due to air bubbles. A suggestion to ensure that they all come out the same size would be to create a sheet that has all the same size shape and place it underneath a piece of parchment paper. This way, you can easily trace the shape. I did notice that my last few batches seemed to have more bubbles in them. I am not sure if it had been sitting in the warm kitchen too long or I had not squeezed the dough together enough in the pastry bag.

All in all a good challenge. I love trying things I have not made before. The more I bake the more I enjoy learning how ingredients come together and what happens to them in the oven.

Be sure to check out my fellow Daring Bakers by clicking here! For more information on the Daring Bakers or Daring Cooks, be sure to check out The Daring Kitchen!

Milan Cookies

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network

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

12 tablespoons (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 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons 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 (I used light cream)
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt Intense Mint Dark chocolate)
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. The 1/4 inch tip produces a thin cookie. I would certainly suggest trying a 1/2 inch tip.

5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree 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 (heat to just under boiling) the 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. I actually put the chocolate in a ziploc bag and cut a notch in the corner so it was like a pastry bag and piped onto the cookie. I had more control over the chocolate this way and it was a little neater.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.