I am woefully behind in posting my Daring Baker’s challenge this month, and I am woefully behind in doing it as well. But this weekend I finally screwed my courage to the sticking point and set to work.
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. If you haven’t picked up on it, these are both recipes for popular commercial cookies – Mallomars and Milanos. While I do love a good Mallomar, and they are nearly impossible to find in California, I have always had a soft spot for the Pepperidge Farm Milanos, and decided to try my hand at those (with the bonus that they were much simpler, and did not involve making marshmallows, which is not difficult exactly, but is very, very messy. At least in my kitchen.)
Of course, being in the dog days of summer and feeling somewhat lackadaisical, I mixed up the recipe techniques quite a bit (I’ve linked to the original recipe below, and posted my changes) which resulted in chewy, buttery sandwich cookies that were nothing like Milanos (mostly in texture – these were NOT crunchy) but tasted fantastic all the same. They certainly disappeared in my house. I was lucky I got to take any pictures.
- 6 ounces salted butter
- 2.5 cups powdered sugar
- 6 egg whites
- 2 T vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- Cookie filling, recipe follows
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 1 ounce butter
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter, and cook, over medium heat, until the butter is fragrant and has taken on a rich nutty brown color. Set aside and cool. Beat the egg whites until frothy, add the powdered sugar, vanilla and brown butter and beat until combined. Add the flour, stir until just mixed, and spoon mixture onto cookie sheets lined with parchment. Bake at 350 degrees 10-11 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
- Melt the butter and the chocolate together over low heat until smooth.
- Match up cookies until you have reasonably matching pairs. On one side of each pair, brush a layer of chocolate to edges of cookie. I like to keep the chocolate relatively thin so it doesn't overwhelm the flavor of the brown butter. Sandwich together with pair.
You are such an unusual cook in that you cook AND bake. Most cooks do one or the other, you know?
I’ve wanted to try homemade marshmallows for a while now, mostly because they are something that Zoe can eat. I should just do it.
Yumm those sound delicious!
Hey Savour!
I couldn’t find your email, so I’m leaving this here: You won the Julie & Julia ticket give-away!
The movie is actually tonight, not Thursday. Sorry about the last minute change.
Pls. send me your full name ASAP so it can be put on a list at the theater. Be sure to get there early to get a good seat, as it’s first come, first serve.
Tuesday, August 4th
7PM
Landmark Theatre
10850 W. Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
Bon Appetit!