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American

Homemade Milano Cookies

by:
March 31, 2014
4
4 Ratings
  • Makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen
Author Notes

This recipe is (barely) adapted from Everyday Food (http://www.marthastewart...). These cookies take a little bit of time to put together, but they’re well worth the effort. Adding a little bit of orange zest makes them even better. This recipe yields a lot of cookies, but any extras will keep well in an airtight container in the freezer. —Carey Nershi

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Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
  • 1 1/3 cups sugar
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
  • zest of one orange (optional)
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 325° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silpat mats. Combine flour and salt together and set aside.
  2. Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add in whole eggs and egg white, then vanilla, and continue to beat on high until light and fluffy. Lower speed and gradually beat in flour mixture until just incorporated.
  3. Transfer batter to a ziploc bag with a 1/2-inch hole snipped in one corner. Pipe batter into 2-inch long strips. Bake for 13–15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies just begin to brown. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks. Allow cookies to cool completely.
  4. Arrange cookie halves in pairs of similar shape and size. Melt chocolate in a double boiler until smooth, then remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
  5. Spoon the chocolate onto one cookie half, and sprinkle on a pinch of orange zest. Gently press the other half on top until the chocolate just reaches the edges. Repeat with the remaining cookies and let the sandwiches sit until the chocolate has set. Any extra cookies will keep well in an airtight container in the freezer.
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Lover of simple food and cocktails served with a single giant ice cube. Raised in the NY Schoharie Valley; currently residing in Burlington, VT. Blogger at reclaimingprovincial.com.

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14 Reviews

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Smaug February 4, 2020
I kind of screwed this up and will have to try again, but learned a few things. I decided to use a pastry bag with a 1/2" tip for consistency, as the cookies need to match up. A bit of reflection would have told me that a 1/2" cut off the corner of a baggie would actually open out into a smaller circle (a 3/8" tip would be more like it), and my cookies were therefore considerably larger than the PF version. I used 167g. flour for 1/2 the recipe, which seemed to work out right, and added 1/4 tsp baking soda, as it's on the PF ingredient list- whether it was an improvement I couldn't say, but at any rate it did no harm. I cooked some at 350, and liked the result better.
Smaug February 6, 2020
Much better the second time. I changed the recipe some, as follows (this is for 1/2 batch- I got 2 doz. finished cookies);
1 1/4c. (167g) bleached AP flour
1/8tsp. salt
1/4lb. butter
1/2c.-1Tb. (90g) sugar
1 egg+20g. egg white
1/2tsp. vanilla
30oz. 72% chocolate
I think this balanced better than the original recipe. I used a pastry bag with a 3/8" tip- I usually handle cookie dough cold, but this pipes a lot better at about room temp. I also usually use silpats, but in this case parchment is better- you can draw guidelines at 2" to make them more consistent (turn the paper over and the lines will show through), and you can leave them on the parchment to add the chocolate, which is naturally a bit messy. It's best to let the chocolate set a bit more before putting the halves together.
Smaug February 7, 2020
Also, baked at 350 for 11-12 min.
Smaug February 20, 2020
Round 3- I felt that the moisture in the butter was making for a cakier cookie than the PF version- subbing Crisco resulted in a texture and flavor much nearer the original (Pepperidge Farms in general doesn't seem awfully fond of butter). It was also easier to pipe; it cooked better at 375 degrees. Chocolate continues to be something of an adventure- I think a professional pastry chef would probably use a parchment cone, but my piping technique isn't good enough to attempt it. I don't think the original has any vanilla except in the chocolate- personally, I like a bit but it's not the original flavor.
Ersi M. March 5, 2019
Greetings from Greece. Love Milano cookies but since we can't find any in Greece, I decided to make some. Pls specify what type of oven you are using - conventional (traditional) or convection (air). For some reason this is rarely specified in recipes. Thank you in advance
Smaug February 6, 2020
American recipes written for home bakers are virtually always for a conventional oven- it would specify if they wanted a convection oven.
Nikki S. August 24, 2018
I'm so happy I found this recipe. They turned out perfectly, thank you!
Änneken October 25, 2017
These are extraordinary! I used Lindt 85% chocolate and found it was a tad too runny after I had let it cool for about 30 mins but I'd still make those again. Very delicious!
Lauren August 4, 2017
These are very tasty and pretty easy to make. I found that they spread a lot during baking and i ended up with quite a few 'kissing' cookies. I also mixed the orange zest right into the chocolate rather then adding it to the sandwich separately. Very tasty and they really look just like the ones from the store!
Holly G. May 30, 2017
I've made these twice and learned that in New Zealand with regular flour, you'll need to add an extra 1/2 cup of butter to obtain the right consistency. Added this melted after baking a test tray and finding them too flat and bumpy. Were perfect and exactly as pictures after butter addition!
Gabriella September 26, 2014
more than just barely adapted i think:) These look excellent, a childhood favorite of mine that I can't wait to recreate with this recipe!
Amy August 10, 2014
Delicious cookies. I made these yesterday, and found that the 1/2 inch hole made cookies that were a bit too small for me. I cut a 1 inch hole instead and they were perfect.
Judith P. July 3, 2014
uhoh.
Kris April 23, 2014
These are my husbands favorite cookies esp the orange milanos. Thanks for posting this recipe with the pictures of all the steps. Can't wait to try it.