Friday, July 31, 2009

Daring Bakers: Milan Cookies

Daring Bakers: Milan Cookies

Um, yes...I just posted a cookie recipe, but...

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.

Daring Bakers: Milan Cookies

Lately, my trend seems to be ridiculously late posting of my Daring Bakers challenges. I just made these cookies two nights ago. Life is just so busy and until I figure out some balance, I will probably be late again next month.

At least I got them done.

We had two choices this month for which I am eternally grateful. We could either make homemade Malomars (chocolate covered marshmallow cookies) or homemade Milanos (cookies sandwiched with a rich layer of chocolate). I have to admit, I took the "easy" way out and just made the Milanos. I have already made marshmallows and since I did these one night after a long day of work, I wasn't really feeling adventurous with marshmallow making and chocolate dipping.

Even with the easier version, I still ran into one or two road blocks. The batter was perfectly easy to work with, but the suggestion of piping out a 1/4 inch thickness of batter, 1 inch long was a little ridiculous. My cookies didn't spread at all and I was left with many, many mini cookies. I ended up just piping out rounds and hoping that they matched up. For the ones that didn't, I just dipped them in chocolate. Also, I really detest the combo of chocolate and orange so I just added a couple splashes of rum to my chocolate mix, but I may have added too much rum. I had a hard time melting the chocolate with the cream so I ended up adding more chocolate which helped the consistency, but then I was left with a ton of melted chocolate. For the cookies that didn't match up, I just dipped them in chocolate and rolled them in a bit of toasted coconut or raw pistachios. The cookies are very simple to make and very similar to the tuiles we made back in the beginning of the year. They are also very addictive and I think I scarfed down about 5 (or 20) in the process. Once again thank you to our hostess for a great challenge, and I am looking forward to what we are faced with next month and *maybe* I will get it done in time...

Daring Bakers:Milan Cookies

Milanos
(Adapted from Gale Gand)

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
Cookie filling (as follows)

Cookie filling
1/4 cup heavy cream
1-2 splashes dark rum
4 ounces semisweet chocolate

Cream the butter with a paddle attachment then mix in the sugar. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated. 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. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

Cookie Filling: In a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl. Whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools). 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. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies

Printable Recipe

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12 comments:

Maria said...

The cookies look fabulous!

Erica said...

YUM! I love the toppings! My mom use to buy the peperidge farm milan cookies as a special treat when I was growing up. They are SO good. I bet the homemade variety is even better

daxphillips said...

great work. These are probably one of my go-to cookies at the store, and its been so long since I have had one, that I will probably have to make these this weekend. yum.

Chef Fresco said...

Impressive milans! I've never had homemade ones either. I'd say you picked the best toppings!

Cooking with tien said...

I did not know it was this easy to make. I will have to try the recipe. Tien

Kerstin said...

I love your coconut and pistachio toppings, they look fabulous!

Engineer Baker said...

Even with a 1/6 recipe, I ended up with TONS of twee little cookies using the recommended 1" x 1/4". Definitely should have gone with the circles. Oh, and the alcohol. Dang they look and sound good!

Jennifer said...

Great job!!! They look so good!!!

Julie (Willow Bird Baking) said...

Yum, love the toasted coconut!

lisaiscooking said...

Your chocolate-dipped cookies look delicious! I want to try making these now.

Diana said...

Aww well even with the hiccups, these still turned out looking even better than the store bought kind! I should pass the recipe on to my sister in law -- my brother LOVES milano cookies!

angela@spinachtiger said...

Better late than never. These are my favorite.