2009-07-27

Milan 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.
This month's challenge offered the choice of adapting one or both of two delicious cookies. Time constraints and generalized chaos made the decision for me, leading to one elegant, deceptively simple confection.
The original recipe was similar to the previous Daring Bakers Tuiles challenge/debacle, so instead of trying to pipe the dough, I made a sugar cookie variation:
Wet Ingredients:

1/4 C plain soymilk + 3/4 tsp lemon juice

1/2 C dairy free margarine, softened (Earth Balance, as usual)

1 C powdered sugar

2 Tbs vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

2 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp table salt

Additional:

granulated sugar for dipping

Mix soymilk and lemon juice in a nonreactive container, i.e. Pyrex measuring cup, and set aside. Sift dry ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. Cream margarine and sugar together in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Add soymilk mixture and vanilla, then beat until combined. (Don't worry if it develops a cottage cheese texture.) Continue to beat while gradually adding the flour mixture until completely combined.
Stretch out a three foot sheet of cling wrap on the counter. Turn dough out onto the wrap and carefully work into a cylindrical shape about 1 inch in diameter. Roll in the cling wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap dough and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Dip one side of cookie in granulated sugar, and place on cookie sheets two inches apart with sugar side up. After filling cookie sheet, use a glass with a concave bottom to flatten cookies. Bake 8-10 minutes.
Cookie Filling:
1/4 C coconut milk

2/3 C Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

half of the zest from one orange.

Place zest and chocolate chips in a small bowl. Heat coconut milk in microwave until bubbling. Stir coconut milk into chips and zest until smooth, fragrant, chocolaty mixture achieved. Resist urge to bypass cookies and stuff directly in face.
Commence with the sandwich making. Match up the cookies into pairs and spackle them together with orange chocolate decadence. They hold a surprising amount of filling without squishing out.

The result wasn't quite as delicate as the original Pepperidge Farm Milanos, but these cookies are worth the effort. Thanks to Nicole for great challenge!

4 comments:

Ruth said...

Your milanos look delicious!!!

Speedbump Kitchen said...

I totally agree on the tuile badness! Some things just need eggs. My memory was too short I guess, and I actually repeated my tuile disaster before deciding on a sugar cookie too!

Maggie said...

They look great! I used egg whites in the Milanos and still fought with the batter. You made a wise choice.

Kenna - everythinggal.com said...

Good idea with altering the recipe. They look yummy! I did the mallows, which were fun.