Ahh, Milanos. Could there be any sandwich cookie more perfect? Better than Oreos. Even better than Nutter Butters (and I’m peanutbutterholic). Made famous by Pepperidge Farm, they are a rare treat in our household. That is, until it was revealed that Milanos would be this month’s challenge over at 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.

The Milanos were actually relatively painless. They didn’t use any exotic ingredients that I didn’t already have in my arsenal, and were thrown together pretty quickly. This was my first time to actually pipe cookies though, and it took a little bit of trial and error to try to get the cookies of similar size and shape. I actually found it helpful to try to match up the 2 sides of the cookie before I spread the filling in between, instead of searching for a mate while getting chocolate all over everything.

Final result? Absolutely delicious! I was a little worried about the texture since they were very chewy after coming out of the oven (Hubby likened it to chewing on orange peel) but either the chocolate or the refrigeration afterwards perfected the cookie. Either way, they were absolutely delicious and deceptively simple! Definitely a keeper in the recipe box.

MILANO COOKIES

Recipe adapted from Gale Gand, from Food Network. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

COOKIE:
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

GANACHE 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 – I used Wilton Tip #12) plain tip, pipe 2-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.