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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 choose so I went with delicious Milan cookies

When it comes to store-bought cookies Milano’s are one of my favorites. I’ve never considered making my own and looked forward to the challenge. It was first time using a piping bag to make cookies and much easier to make than I had expected. My cookies had a crisp edge but chewy center. I’ll have to research why this happens, but I prefer the soft crumbly nature of the Pepperidge Farm brand.

The best part was the smell of the lemon extract in the cookies and the faint taste of orange in the chocolate.

Recipe

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:

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

Directions

• In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
• Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
• Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
• 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.
• While waiting for the cookies to cool, 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.

Now that my primary transportation to work is my motorcycle getting pastries to work has become quite an ordeal. Strapping boxes or plastic containers to the bike isn’t an issue, but the shaking and bumps of the road do a number on baked goods. There has to be some way to carefully transport the things I make. I’m scared to even try to bring a pie in now.

You can understand my concern. After placing three cookies into their own individual paper cup and sealing them in a tight container, this is what I saw when I opened the lid. The horror! Presentation ruined!

Categorized as Food