Milanos and Mallows are the two cookie challenges for the July Daring Bakers Challenge - hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth.  The recipe variations came from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

The challenge stated that you could create either cookie or both.  I chose to do only the Milanos, as I personally adore them, and I really prefer my marshmallows to make there appearance at a campfire.  Actually I ran out of time, the mallow cookie bases are done, not so much with the marshmallows or chocolate(hey a girls gotta go to the beach, right?).  Perhaps an update later this week is in order.

Can I just tell you that these milanos where so good!  They were gone in about 4.5 minutes at the beach, which is okay because they were really easy to make.  I mean, not easy like, buy premade cookie dough and cook for 8 minutes.  But easy like - the batter went together quickly, the ganache was not complicated (at the request of my beloved I didn’t add in the orange zest - which I think it needs), and all you do is schmear and stack.  So easy work, then. 

Some of the DBers were struggling with the shape of the cookies - achieving consistency - and while mine where not in any way perfect (check out this um, “masculine” one below), I think my method is what kept me from becoming frustrated (read: obsessed) with the shape.  Here’s what I did…  

Where have I seen this before? 

oh, oh I know… *giggles like a school girl*

I piped only one tray (and my cookies were more like short Popsicle sticks) because I wanted to get a feel for how much pressure to apply on the pastry bag, how much spread the batter would have and how thick or thin the resulting cookie would be.  And as you can see they were skimpy little anorexic cookies! 

The Starlets

So with the second sheet pan I piped confidently, fairly quickly and with more pressure on the bag, resulting in a thicker stripe and thus, after baking, a more traditional shape.  Success!  I piped a total of 6 trays, including the little “Hollywood Starlet” shaped cookies.

The Big Daddys - tee hee hee

I ended up with 45 cookie sandwiches, resembling the size and shape of the milano cookies that you can buy in the market.  Had I not ended up with 3 dozen “Starlets”, I probably would have netted out close to 5 dozen cookie sandwiches, with enough ganache left over to make my Dark Chocolate Dipped Dried Apricots with Pistachios. 

Milan Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 Tablespoons (170 grams/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 (187.5 grams/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 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 F oven for 10 minutes or until 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.

Mallows (Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups (375 grams/13.23 oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5 grams/3.97 oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170 grams/6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combined.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap the clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface.  Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.  Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie.  Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicone mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: If you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base.  Heat in a preheated 350 degree F oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little.  Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade Marshmallows

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95 oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until softball stage, or 235 degrees with a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into te whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate Glaze

• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Blondies Kitchen Notes

• I rotated my baking sheets half way through
• I used sil-pats to line my sheet pans
• I used semi-sweet dark chocolate in my milanos
• I would used the orange zest next time in the milanos.  Because I think the cookies need the extra something, I like chocolate and orange together and because I adore those cool chocolate oranges that you whack on the counter and then when you open the foil covering the chocolate is segmented and textured to look like orange wedges.  Do you remember those?  I have to go to the import store and see if they still carry those - I think the girls would think that’s pretty cool
• I used my left over chocolate  ganache to make my Dark Chocolate Dipped Dried Apricots with Pistachios
• I made the mallow cookie dough one day and cooked off, made the marshmallows and dipped the cookies on day two (update: not really on day two persay…)

 ~Blondie