Monday, July 27, 2009

Daring Bakers-July Challenge


Who says that the Milano cookies have to be oval?

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.

Nicole is a huge fan of Gale Gand. For July's challenge she wanted us to try Gand’s version on her favorite store bought cookies, Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies and the Mallows. To find the complete recipe and see the work of many other talented bloggers please visit The Daring Kitchen site.

As usual, I found myself making this at the last minute so I will probably only post the Milano Cookies pictures today, but there is a chance I might be able to try the other cookies tomorrow (the cookie dough is done at least).

The Milano Cookie recipe was pretty straight forward, the egg whites have to be added slowly to prevent the emulsion of fat and white from separating.

I made two versions of these cookies, one with orange and cardamom, and one with coffee and hazelnut. I cut down the recipe in half and made half with the orange zest, and half with cocoa power. I am glad I didn't double the recipes because I got tons of cookies any way. For the orange cookies, I added only 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of orange extract, because I thought the original recipe had way too much (half recipe would have required a TBS of both). For the chocolate cookies I substituted a tablespoon of the flour with two tablespoons of cocoa powder, and sprinkled some hazelnut after the cookies started spreading in the oven. The chocolate cookies didn't turn out as crispy as the others, they actually were rounder and softer. The taste was very nice though.

For the filling I infused some of the cream with cardamom to which I added the orange zest, and some with ground espresso powder. The filling was tricky to make as I halved the recipe and the 1/4 cup of cream was not enough to melt the chocolate so I had to melt it in a double boiler.


The resulting cookies are really dangerous, so I might have to get rid of some of them, they are too tempting.

Thanks Nicole for choosing this recipe, I had fun with it and now I have another great recipe in my repertoire.

22 comments:

LoveMeKnot Creations said...

oh yummm, i LOVE coffee flavored things!! yours look really good, I couldn't get round cookies, mine turned out halfway oval, halfway rectangular haha.

Love the nuts up top!

Anonymous said...

I agree...if I make these again I'm going to change up the shape!

Laura said...

It was so much easier to get nice rounds that nice ovals. Plus, who says that we have to conform?

hexe said...

Coffee and hazelnut - YUM! I like the round cookies.

Julie (Willow Bird Baking) said...

Your flavor combos sound delicious!!

Lisa said...

Beautiful rounds, and the coffee hazelnut flavor is so unique and delicious for these cookies! In the first photo, the cookies kind of look like Pepperidhe Farm Brussels, which are just as good as Milanos, if not better! Crispier!

Jill @ Jillicious Discoveries said...

I made mine today too--ha ha! :) It was just a really busy month. I love that you went the extra mile and did some creative flavors.
Jill
P.S. I've been beind on reading blogs, but just got caught up on yours today--loved the chicks and the jam! :)

Laura said...

Jill, I am so behind too! The chicken coop is keeping us busy!

Lisa Michelle, thanks for stopping by. I will have to check out the Brussel cookies, I don't know them.

Hexe, thanks! It was a fun challenge.

Chou said...

Oh, orange and cardamom are such a lovely flavor combination.

Deeba PAB said...

♥ coffee & love the flavours you got into the Milanos.Beautiful pics especially the first one! I did just the Mallows & ♥'d them!

Sara said...

Gorgeous! I love the different flavors...they look so delicious!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

yes who said that had to be oval? I think your round ones are gorgeous! I loved the biscuits and ate plenty lol

enza said...

buongiorno.
io ho dato forfait in questi mesi date le mie condizioni ma comincio a pentirmene,

Laura said...

Jill, the chicks are getting so big! We are getting 5 more by mail this week.

Chou, yes, they work so great, and with the chocolate even better!

Deeba, yes for espresso and chocolate! I still want to try the mallow, maybe today.

Sara, thanks for stopping by, we live so close, just across the Bay.

Lorraine, yes round rules! I love your blog title BTW.

Enzina! Bentornata. Spero tutto vada per il meglio con il bebe'.

Dewi said...

Gosh, those are beautiful. You did well Laura!

isa said...

They look delicious!
Love the coffee and hazelnut combo.
Nicely done!

Jamie said...

Beautiful cookies, they sound delicious! I adored this challenge!

Christina said...

Coffee and hazelnut! I'm in heaven, say no more! They look and sound wonderful!

Anonymous said...

I made most of mine round. Easier to match up sides that way! :) Well done!!

lisa (dandysugar) said...

Great flavors! Orange and cardamom is one of my favorite flavor duos!

Julia @ Mélanger said...

Orange and cardamom? Coffee and hazelnut? Some of my favourite flavours. These look great. Nice work. Good to see you made the shape your own!

Just Cook It said...

They look fantastic. Great photos. And the chicks are adorable.

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