Homemade "Milano" Cookies

I get my sweet tooth from my mother.  She always has a stash of something hidden in a drawer.  When I was a kid I didn't know about her stash and, except for holidays, my sisters and I didn't get candy or cookies all that often.  Mostly if we wanted some cookies someone better make some.

The other thing I get from my mother is my love for reading.  At the end of the day I love to lay in bed with a book and read until I doze off.  My mother and I used to get into her huge bed and burrow ourselves under the blankets and read.  Eventually she let me in on her secret.  I was a little bit older and not as inclined to pass out within five minutes of getting into bed and she couldn't disguise the crinkling of wrappers for the pages of a book!

I loved when she had M&M's because you could take a big handful and go back to your book without having to put your book down to unwrap something.  Twizzlers were pretty good too.  But what I hated was when she had Milano Cookies.  First of all, there weren't that many in the bag so you couldn't really pig-out on them.  But, secondly, they were filled with dark chocolate... ewww!  What kid likes dark chocolate?  I'm not even sure if my mother knows that I didn't really like the cookies.  I always managed to eat a couple because it was our special time and I didn't want to ruin it, but I sure appreciated it more when she had milk chocolate!

Now that I'm "growed" up (as M2 says), I have an appreciation for dark chocolate, and Milano Cookies.  I very rarely buy them though, because my kids don't share my childhood dislike of dark chocolate and they would eat the entire bag in a few minutes, and these cookies are way too expensive for that.  They're an indulgence and should be savored.  I decided that if I could figure out how to make them we could have them any time we, well I, wanted.  And that's how this recipe came to be.

To get the right texture you really need to let the dough mix.  Follow the mixing instructions carefully, otherwise you'll end up with a dough that is very crumbly.  It will still taste good, but it won't be a Milano cookie.  Bake them until the edges have turned a nice golden brown.  Usually with lighter colored cookies (like a sugar cookie, for example) if the edges have gone brown they're slightly over-baked, but not this time.  These are such delicate cookies that they need a little baked in sturdiness.  If you don't want to fill them with ganache, as I've used, fill them with a high quality jam, nutella, or top them with a quartered maraschino cherry before baking.  Or you could always eat them plain.

-The Baker

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COOKIE DOUGH:

• 8 oz Butter, softened
• 1 1/2 C AP Flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 C Powdered Sugar, sifted
• 1 t Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 t Almond Extract
  

1. Cream the softened butter by itself on high for 5 mins
2. Stir in the Vanilla and Almond extracts
3. Add the sifted Powdered Sugar; slowly bring the mixer speed up to high; cream for 10 mins
4. Add the AP flour; slowly bring the mixer speed up to high; cream for 10 mins
5. Using a pastry bag and a star tip, pipe your desired shape onto parchment lined pans
   
6. Bake at 350 F for 16 mins
7. Let cool on the pan for 5 mins; then move to a rack to finish cooling
8. When completely cool fill one cookie with ganache and sandwich shut with another cookie; let the ganache set before stacking

*Notes:  If you don't have a pastry bag you can just scoop the dough onto the pan using a spoon.

GANACHE:

• 1 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
• 5 oz Dark chocolate
  

1. Gently warm the cream and chocolate; don't get it too hot
2. Stir together the cream and chocolate until it's very shiny