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Monday, July 27, 2009

Daring Bakers' Milan Cookies



This particular challenge reminded me of baking macaron. Well, the piped batter looked like macaron but the flattening effect and final result resembled baking lady finger.

Despite the early thought of baking just Mallows recipe, I ended baking both and felt totally pleased making the decision to bake this very special Milan cookies. The recipe is easy to follow and the process is straight forward. Don’t know whether anyone of you ever baked Hokkaido Snow White Cookies which are 2 very thin pieces of butter cookies sandwiched with a layer of white chocolate. The outcome is pretty close even though the latter is done by rolling and cutting dough instead of piping.



The blend of vanilla and lemon extract brought the best out of this cookies. Having said that I think you shouldn’t miss trying out this recipe if you ever think about baking for an afternoon tea. Thanks to Nicole from Sweet Tooth for selecting this simple yet fabulous recipe!

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 recipe is courtesy of Gale Gand. Have made some adjustments for my own convenience. The original recipe can be found here.



MILAN COOKIES
Makes 47 pieces

1. Cookies

Ingredients:
- Salted butter – soften in room temperature > 85 grams
- Icing sugar > 130 grams
- Egg whites > 3
- Vanilla essence > 1 tablespoon
- Lemon essence > 1 tablespoon
- All purpose flour > 94 grams



Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Cream butter and icing sugar until pale.
- Add egg white gradually and then mix in vanilla and lemon essence.
- Fold in flour and mix well.
- With a small (1/4 inch) plain tip, pipe 1 inch sections of batter onto parchment-lined tray, spacing them 1.5 inches apart as they spread.
- Bake at 180C for 8 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on tray.



2. Chocolate Filling

Ingredients:
- Semi sweet chocolate – chop > 120 grams
- Whipping cream > 54 grams
- Orange zest > ½ orange



Method:
- Prepare chocolate in a bowl.
- In a small saucepan scald cream over medium fire.
- Pour hot cream into chocolate bowl. Whisk to melt chocolate. Add zest and mix well.
- Set aside to cool. The mixture will be thick.



3. Assembly

- Spread a thin amount of chocolate filling onto the flat side of a cookie.
- Press the flat side of the second cookie on top of filling.

22 comments:

  1. Wow..if there was actual perfection in this world, you nailed it with these cookies! Perfectly executed and beautiful! Once again, you rocked another challenge. Love the photos too! :)

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  2. Great job on your challenge and your Milans look delicious. Beautifully presented and great photos.

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  3. These photos are just gorgeous!! You make me want to bake in Paris :D Thanks for sharing!

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  4. What pretty cookies! they look so delicate and delicious! I love your shots!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  5. Such pretty photos!
    I tried to make mine round too, but you definitely did a better job at it ;)

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  6. Beautiful pictures!! I thought the Milans were delicious too and found the piping very similiar to piping macarons. Great job! :)

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  7. Your Milans are absolutely perfect! They look so delicate yet inviting :D

    Stunning photos!!!

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  8. Your cookies are very delicate, beautiful and extremely tempting!
    Beautiful pictures!

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  9. Beautiful photographs of beautiful cookies! I'm sure they taste as good as they look!

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  10. Thanks, guys for your great complements! I have been enjoying DB challenge so much so far... Hope to put in more efforts in the future :-)

    Regards
    Kris

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  11. Oh wow... how beautiful even you got them. The pics are gorgeous - love the look of the colours!
    I only made the mallows, with a lot of headaches, so I was in no shape or form to even try the Milanos.

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  12. Your milanos make me smile the just make me think of a lovely summer day. Fantastic job

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  13. Thank KayB! Ha ha mallows are complicated. My personal view, if I have little time to start with the Milanos are my choice since it is easy to bake and the combination of lemon and vanilla extracts really made these cookies taste very special! Leave alone all the cleaning hassles from the coating chocolate drips all over the place :-)

    Regards
    Kris

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  14. Thanks Ruth! Maybe the color of the floweres I picked to complement the cookies? Don't we all love summer when everything is fresh and full of spirit....

    Regards
    Kris

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  15. Kris, your cookies are perfect. So beautiful!

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  16. Beautiful beautiful work and the pixs are so lovely and those yellow are summer. The cookies are perfect in colour and shape and all the same size an excellent result you are one great baker and great to hear you liked them so much. Cheers from Audax.

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  17. Wow!! All of your cookies for this challenge look amazingly yummy =D. Gorgeous photos as well!!

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  18. Wow!!! I used a cookie cutter halfway through baking to get the nice round shape and yours turned out perfectly with just the piping. Stunning, really really stunning.

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  19. Thanks, Audax! You are truly an inspiration!!

    Regards
    Kris

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  20. Thanks Anh, Lauren, Gine and Bakergirlcreations! So glad you liked my post!

    Regards
    Kris

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  21. what a beautiful picture !!! Kris, do you know what you like to do next in your life ? Seem, you have a talent as a baker and food stylist. That's the perfect combination :D

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