Monday, July 27, 2009

Milan Cookies (DB)

This month's Daring Bakers Challenge was to make homemade versions of a couple of grocery aisle cookie favorites, Milano Cookies and Mallomars. I'm pretty good about resisting temptation in the cookie aisle at the grocery store, but I definitely have a weakness for these two cookies. In college, both cookies provided essential nutrition (i.e. sugar and carbs) for my all night study sessions. Thanks to Nicole of Sweet Tooth for a great selection this month. Nicole graciously gave us the option of making one or both recipes. Due to some scheduling challenges, I opted to just make the Milano Cookies.

With a heatwave hitting full stride in Los Angeles, I was so happy to work on a recipe that minimizes baking time. I cheated a teeny bit and filled the cookies with Scharffen Berger milk chocolate ganache.
These homemade milanos were so tasty and easy to make! In fact, I may never go back to the packaged version.
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 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
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 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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

31 comments:

Sara said...

Mmmm, these look delicious! YUM. I LOVE that S.B. ganache too! :)

Cristine said...

Your cookies look great! I wanted to make the milans, but only had time for the mallows. I can't wait to try the milans!

Tammy said...

great that you liked them. we dont get milan cookies in New Zealand, but we do have mallowpuffs which are like the mallows. I made those instead of the milans and loved them

Irene said...

Wow, these are perfect! Your piping job is very admirable! I like the look of your cookies better than the store-bought ones. Nice job!

The Food Librarian said...

These look perfect. So much better than PF (although I went through UCLA eating the mint ones by the dozen). Great job!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Hey, Linda! Your cookies didn't look much different than the original! Great job even if you did cheat a little.....just kidding! :))
~ingrid

Anonymous said...

Your milans look perfect! I loved them too. They were really easy.

jillian said...

I also really like these. Yours look just as perfect as the store bought version.

Debbie said...

Please .. please tell me how you managed such perfect milanos! What special piping techniques can you share so mine will look like yours? Thanks Debbie
let.them.eat.cake.debbie@gmail.com

betty geek said...

YOU MADE THESE?!!!!

I am so not worthy.

Tres Jolie Studios said...

I love the photo comparison between home-made and store bought. Your milanos look fantastic!

Heather B said...

wow! Yours look perfect! Great job!

Lisa said...

Truth be told, yours look BETTER than the authentic
Milanos..seriously! VERY VERY well done!

kristenly said...

i have to agree. your home made ones definitely look better than the store bought. well done!

Jaime said...

your cookies look so picture perfect!

Maggie said...

Your cookies are stunning! I love the side by side shot with the PF ones.

Shannon said...

I am glad yours came out great, mine on the other hand not so much.

TeaLady said...

Those look perfect. Are you sure you don't work for PF on the side.

Great cookie.

Engineer Baker said...

Dangerous - I get jealous when I see how close people's cookies look to the original, and yours are spot-on!

Sophie said...

Wow! Impressive, I'd definitely choose the homemade version :).

Jill @ Jillicious Discoveries said...

Great job on your Milans! I love the photo comparisons--yours are better than the originals. :)

isa said...

They look perfect!
Beautiful pictures, especially the photo comparison between home-made and store bought.

Jamie said...

Gorgeous cookies and that SB ganache make my mouth water! :)

Christina said...

hahaha! Love the photo comparison :) They look great!

KALVA said...

lovely cookies...

Anonymous said...

Your cookies are gorgeous! Well done!

lisa (dandysugar) said...

Your cookies look great. Even better than the originals!!

Unknown said...

Your milans are gorgeous! I've loved seeing them on everyone's blogs and will definitely try them soon as I'm a huge fan of the PF version.

glenna said...

OK! These look good. I'm going to bake these soon.

Marianna said...

this cookies are much more good with Nutella ;)!

admairable said...

How do yours look so perfect!! I tried them for the first time and used 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 1/2 cup regular granulated sugar. I cut down the sugar by 1/2 cup and used 3 tsp. vanilla extract and no lemon extract. Mine came out too flat and the first batch completely stuck to the pan =/ But the rest, on a nicely greased pan, came out yummy! After all those tries, I was too tired to make the ganache and just spread some nutella on and sandwiched 'em together. Maybe I shouldn't have made the changes I made =/

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