Here it is my very first Daring Bakers’ challenge. 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.
I was excited to be finally part of this group, I kept stumbling on blogs that mention it and I thought it would be fun to join, so I did last month and now, here I am…
These cookies are quite familiar, mallows were well-loved childhood eats of mine, though as I got older, I moved on to other chocolate-y things….. milan.. I haven’t tasted one of these before, I am familiar with it though, I see it (ad) in magazines and in the stores.
When I read the recipes, I thought milans would be easy enough and I got intimidated by the homemade marshmallow recipe. I haven’t tried making it before, I thought it would be difficult but it really wasn’t.
It was a breeze making the chocolate covered mallow cookies, I even made a little design, it wasn’t intentional, the level of chocolate glaze in the bowl is too shallow( I halved the recipe) for the cookies to be dunked in
..the cookies looked like this, it wasn’t as shiny when the chocolate glaze dried but they’re cute and yummy
It was the milan that frustrated me a little, the batter spreads so much during baking that I couldn’t get them off of the parchment paper, they were too thin and got stuck (in the parchment paper), I don’t know what I was doing wrong, I know I followed the recipe to the letter, but how come my cookies doesn’t look right? I tried everything, I piped a little, doesn’t work; piped a lot of batter, the same thing, it just created a big flat somewhat oval disk. The only
obvious reason (why didn’t I think of it before) was the heat; It’s too hot in my kitchen but I’ve gotten used to it, the butter obviously isn’t.
So I tried chiling the batter for a few minutes before piping and it works..a little, it’s still too thin in my opinion, but I am running out of time; ‘ see I waited until the last moment to do the challenge, thinking there wouldn’t be any problems, serves me right.. next time I’ll do it earlier.
my milan cookies, they’re too thin but these cookies are pretty tasty though, we finished everything up.
The Recipes:
Mallows
(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network websitePrep 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
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. 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.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. 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, 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 extract1. 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.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil1. 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 websitePrep 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 followsCookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. 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.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. 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.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.Happy Baking!
Olive
Mallows and Milan Cookies added by Olive on
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Your pictures are absolutely beatiful! Everything looks amazing!!!
Thanks Sara 🙂 You really think so? That means so much to me. Sometimes I find it harder to take photos of food than to cook/bake them. I usually just aim and shoot ( as evident in my earlier posts) especially when I’m already tired but it got me thinking that it’s my responsibility (as a food blogger) to make them look at least clear enough so people reading it would actually want to try making it themselves and believe whatever I said about that particular food is true.
I think your mallows are the prettiest of all the mallows done this month. SO incredible!
(I’m blushing) ….thank you 🙂
they look great!…and I bet they tasted wonderful aswell 🙂
thanks 🙂 and yes, they were really good
oooooh those look too good. Well done.
Thanks guys for your nice comments 🙂
..and Julie, thanks for the tip! 🙂
Ola, Eva!
Very very BEAUTIFUL the shape of your Mallows!! The cookies look delicious!!
Hugs
Eva from Spains
Congratulations on your first challenge! That is always so exciting, and you did such a fantastic job!
Wow those do look good.
Welcome to the Daring Bakers! Your Mallows look so great–I love the star shaped marshmallow and the creative way you dipped them in the chocolate.
Your mallows look great! I love the star shapes, and how the chocolate goes around the edges of the marshmallow! Looks great!
Congrats on your first challenge! Your mallows look fantastic and milanos look very yummy! Cheers 🙂
Those are fantastic. Good for you. It looks like quite a bit of work.
WOW…The Mallows look INCREDIBLE. My two baby girls would devour them…Thank you so much for sharing…Amazing job.
Your star mallows look so adorable! Great idea to make the star shape 🙂
Love the stars!! Even if it wasn’t intentional regarding the level of the chocolate, it still looks cute! You can also spoon the chocolate over and let it drain off if your bowl’s shallow, but I like the way you left it. 🙂 Yay for completing our first challenge!
Welcome to the club … Love those brown and white flower shapesmallows 🙂
Congratulation for successfully completing your first DB challenge, your star mellows look gorgeously yumm! Your milans came out really good!
Thanks Sabiilaa 🙂
I LOVE your star Mallows, so cool to look at it..too pretty to eat! Well..maybe, as they look too good not to eat! Great job all around! Your Milans came out fabulous too, despite the problems everyone seemed to have with them!