Marshmallow and Milano 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 was a real sweet treat! Cookies are some of my favorite things to make! They are easy to put together, fairly quick to make and delicious to eat. In fact, I do not buy store bought cookies. By making cookies from scratch for my kids' lunch box treats, I can control the ingredients and avoid all the bad ingredients like artificial colors and flavors, fats and assorted odd chemicals.

Making homemade marshmallows has been on my list things to make for a few years and this recipe was super. I don't know much about marshmallows but I do wonder why some take egg whites and others don't?

One problem I did have was the chocolate did not set on the mallow cookies. I don't know why it didn't - I wondered if it was due to the amount of oil in the recipe or maybe I was supposed to temper the chocolate (something I want to learn to do) or maybe because I live in the desert and it is summer (though the house is at a comfortable temperature). I was afraid to refrigerate the marshmallows because I thought they would get hard but they are actually quite good cold.

The Milano cookies were tasty. I was afraid to make these due to a bad experience making a Martha Stewart recipe but these came out great and they smelled wonderful as they baked! These cookies really spread so don't place them too close.

These cookies are a big hit in the house. Someone even said they reminded them of Moon Pies. Thank you to Nicole at Sweet Tooth. See the blog roll for all the other bakers who tried their hand at this recipe.

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 10 min

Inactive Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour

½ cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar

½  teaspoon salt

¾  teaspoon baking powder

3/8 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter

3 eggs, whisked together

Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows

Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.

On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.

Add the eggs and mix until combine.

Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.

Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.

One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.

Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.

Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar

1 tablespoon powdered gelatin

2 tablespoons cold water

2 egg whites , room temperature

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.

Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.

Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.

 Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.

Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze

12 ounces semisweet chocolate

2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Milan Cookies

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min

Inactive Prep Time: 0 min

Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min

Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar

7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lemon extract

1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour

Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 orange, zested

In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.

Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.

Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.

With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.

Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.

Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).

Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.

Repeat with the remainder of the 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.