Milan Cookies: DB July's Challenge

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.

So for this months challenge, there were 2 cookies to choose from: Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies or the Milan Cookies. I chose to make the Milan Cookies.

Ingredient wise, the recipe used butter, sugar, egg white, flour, lemon, vanilla extract and heavy cream and chocolate for the cookie filling. i already had most of the items handy.except for the heavy cream as i don't usually use that.

Method wise it was pretty straight forward as well: mix all the ingredients in a mixer until the batter is smooth. spoon into a piping bag and pipe on to the cookie tray and bake. What i did not expect was that the cookie batter would spread as much as it did. i knew it would spread but i underestimated it and my 1st batch of cookies, sort of , all stuck together. :-)

well, live and learn. The 2nd and 3rd batches turned out much better. After the cookies cooled, i spread the filling and assembled the "cookies sandwiches". And ta daaaah.. I present... Milan Cookies... Taste wise, its pretty sweet :-D Actually i found the cookie to be sweeter than the chocolate filling itself and the slight hint of lemon is quite interesting.

The texture is what i would call "semi-spongy". The slightly more "browned" cookies were more chewy and my husband seems to like them a lot. This is definitely not your regular cookie.

now that i'm done with the July challenge, i eagerly await august.

Milan CookiesRecipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 minInactive

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.