Milan Cookies-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.

We could make one or the other or both. I didn't have the time to make both, so I decided to make the Milan cookies. I absolutely love Pepperidge Farm's Milano cookies and welcome the opportunity to duplicate it.

Was my attempt successful? Sadly, no. These Milan cookies are not like the Milano cookies from PF. To me they're more like tuiles. They spread a lot in the oven and came out very thin and delicate. They're very good tuiles though. Instead of making the chocolate ganache, I spread Nutella between the cookies and rolled it in some crushed hazelnut. In the end, it was a very satisfying sandwich cookie, full of hazelnut flavor, YUM!

Here is the recipe for the Milan Cookies. If you're interested in the Chocolate covered Marshmallow cookies, take a look at Nicole's blog.

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling (see note):
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 oven for 15 to 18 minutes (see note) 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.

Note:

• *Instead of making the chocolate ganache, I used Nutella for the sandwich filling.
  
  
• *The original recipe says to bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, my cookies were chewy on the inside, not the texture I wanted. I had to bake it for another 5 to 8 minutes to get it to have the crunch I wanted.
  
  
• *I only have two cookie sheets, so I had to make many batches. The cookie sheets should be cool before piping more dough on the cookie sheet. To cool the cookie sheets quickly, I run the cookie sheet under cold water and dry it.