Homemade Milano Cookies

January 18, 2018

A dream come true – stacks of homemade Milano cookies on a winter day. Your cookies, just like the store bought, will be a crispy vanilla wafer cookie sandwiched with a thin layer of dark chocolate inside. One cookie tastes so innocent. Two relaxes you. Three satisfy. Four indulges. Five finishes the splurge. Six, well that’s on you. Forewarned is forearmed. We can thank Pepperidge Farm for the Milano Cookie (Monaco in Canada). They created mint flavoured version for their European Series. They were an instant success. I chose to add orange zest simply because I adore the combo, but how you flavour the chocolate is entirely up to you. The recipe I used for these Homemade Milano Cookies comes from Food52.

Essentially easy to assemble, Homemade Milano Cookies rely on the piping bag for that classic look. The batter should be soft and supple. Keep consistent with the length and thickness of each cookie so that your sandwiches will match evenly. In the oven, the batter melts fast and spreads quickly, width and length, so pipe them with room between. If the piping bag deters you, scoop the batter into round shapes, then flatten the dough. What’s most important here is that each cookie be the same size and thickness.

When in the oven, let them bake until the outside edge is a lovely shade of brown and the cookie is firm to the touch. Homemade Milano cookies are most enjoyable when crispy.

A trick for filling your Homemade Milano Cookies. Drizzle the liquid chocolate down the center of the cookie and let the weight of the top cookie ooze the chocolate to the edges. Or with an offset spatula, spread the chocolate within 1/8th inch edge-to-edge. See the images below. This way, they won’t look messy, and your fingers will stay clean. You want a thin chocolate wafer between the cookies.

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Ingredients

45 sandwich cookies

Volume Grams Ounces

2 1/2 cups 312.5 grams 11 ounces all-purpose bleached flour
1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup 227 grams 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened

Instructions

Mise en Place Milano Cookies

Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
Cut two sheets of parchment to fit two trays, and draw on each guide lines that measure 2 inches wide. You should be able to fit 3 or 4 rows.
Spray your trays with cooking spray and adhere the paper ink side down.
Otherwise, line two baking trays with baking liners.
Combine flour and salt and set aside. For more info on weighing and measuring, please see the Hows and Why’s section.

Measure flour and salt before you add it to the butter

Measure the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Separate the egg white and combine it with two whole eggs. Add the vanilla and set mixture aside. Read how to best separate whole eggs.
Get our your piping bag and 1/2 inch piping tip and set it aside.
In a clean bowl, measure the dark chocolate and zest your orange. See The Finer Cookie’s post about How to Zest Citrus. Set both aside. Or set out the orange oil.

Assemble the Milano Cookie Dough

Cream the butter and sugar and light and fluffy. Learn more about why we cream butter and sugar and why knowing the tricks produces the best cookies.
Add the egg and vanilla mixture and continue beating until smooth. The batter will be very loose at this stage.
On low speed, gradually add the flour and salt. Beat just until the flour is incorporated. The softness of the dough will depend on the softness of the butter.
Fill the piping bag with the dough and push the contents towards the tip. Twist the top of the bag tight and begin to pipe your cookies.
Be careful to pipe the cookies evenly so that when you match the cookies for your sandwich, they’ll be even. Also be sure to leave a couple inches between each cookie to allow for spreading length and width. Otherwise the cookies will bake into each other.

If you prefer not to use a piping bag, scoop the dough (weighing each piece would be even better) and flatten the disc, leaving space for spreading in the oven. Again, each cookie should be same size to make nice sandwiches.

Bake the Milano Cookies

In a 325ºF oven, bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes. Watch the cookies for a nicely browned edge and a firm touch. Take them out of the oven to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Check underneath the cookie. Is it the right color?

Fill the Milano Cookies

Once your cookies are cooled, pair them up.
Begin to melt your chocolate over gently simmering water or on very low heat, depending on your preference. When the chocolate is half melted, remove it from the heat and stir. The ambient heat will continue to melt the chocolate. Be very careful not to overheat the chocolate or it won’t be shiny. Add the zest or orange oil and combine.
Using an offset spatula, and working with very liquid chocolate, drizzle it down the center of one of the cookies in the sandwich. Spread the chocolate, but not to the edge and immediately lay the top cookie over the layer of chocolate.