Wolf's Den

**** Remember- FireFox does not like my posts. So if you can, try using IE8, or viewing this post in ‘compatibility mode’. Thanks!****

The July 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole of Sweet Tooth.
She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I really wanted to like this Challenge. Really, I did. After all, Milanos are one of my absolute favorite cookies.




But... I don't like Mallow cookies. Sure, I like marshmallows, I like cookies, I love dark chocolate. But... unless it's a s'more, I can't stand eating them together.

So I procrastinated doing this Challenge. Then I thought I'd just do the Milan recipe of it. Then I went ahead, and about 1.5 weeks out from posting/reveal day, I bit the bullet, tracked down Xathan Gum powder, and resolved to make the Mallows as well.



Mind you, I've never made marshmallows before. I've seen homemade marshmallows, I've read many blog entries on them, I even have recipes to make them. I just never have. Just in case, I went ahead and bought store bought marshmallows in strawberry and vanilla as well.



First you start out with making the cookie base. In this case, you put all your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl- sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder...



And Cinnamon. I love this particular brand of Cinnamon. It seems stronger, more fragrant than other Organic Cinnamons I've bought before. Naturally, I added a dash more than was called for. *nods sagely*




Next you thoroughly mix the dry ingredients, then add chunks of room temp, unsalted butter. Then you mix, or attempt to, as you have to repeatedly stop and get the butter out of the whisk, mix until the ingredients resemble course sand... I think.



Then you add your eggs. No, not like that, silly! Sheesh.



That's better. After you lightly (there's that word again...) whisk the eggs together...



You carefully add them, slowly, to the butter stuffs. Then you let it mix until well blended, and as you stand there watching it, you realize...



...that maybe, just MAYBE, you should have swapped out that whisk attachment for the actual mixing attachment. Maybe? Ya think? Hmm?



Ok. After you manage to scrap all the dough out of the whisk attachment, place it on... well, it's supposed to be plastic wrap. Yes, it's tin foil. I've been distracted lately, what with going to Michigan this Friday, with a 14 month old Akita, DRIVING, might I add. So, YES, I still haven't gotten plastic wrap. Parchment paper either. Anyway, form it into a flattened disk, wrap it up, and stick it in the fridge for at least an hour, overnight would be better.

Which was what I did. Overnight, I mean.




However long you decide to refrigerate your cookie base, plan on taking it out at least 25-30 minutes before you actually intend to use it. This let's it warm up and soften a bit, making it a lot easier to roll out to roughly 1/4" thick. And when the directions say 'lightly' floured, laugh and toss a little more flour on that work surface. Trust me.



Now, the recipe says to use a 1.5" round cookie cutter. Numerous Daring Bakers reported getting WAY more than the recipe says you'll get, which was why I rolled the dough out to 1/4" instead of the 1/8" in calls for, as well as used a 2" round cookie cutter that actually started out as an easter egg shape. See, I needed a round cookie cutter for another cookie recipe months and months ago, and well, it was 29 cents, so I couldn't pass it up and besides, it reshaped nicely.}:P



So, umm... I got 6 dozen cookies out of this recipe. Yeah. SIX DOZEN. *headdesk* Good thing I bought some store marshmallows. There was no way I was making that many homemade, not when I've never done it before.}:/ I will say, they are delicious plain. Just not in such a large amount. Sheesh.



Since my cookies were made, and the husband had told his boss he'd be bringing them in on Monday and it was SUNDAY NIGHT already, I went ahead and did several dozen in the store marshmallows. I chopped them in half...



... and topped the cookies with a half. Then they go in the oven to warm the marshmallows up, so they stick to the cookies. I might have eaten a few marshmallows plain. *looks askance* Maybe.



Ok, confession time. I cheated on the coating. But I had a good reason! I've NEVER, EVER been able to successfully melt chocolate for a coating. NEVER. I either 'break' it, or it never solidifies afterwards. Or takes 48 hours to even start to set. Yeah. So I went with a candy coating that was already properly tempered and ready to use. Funny thing is, my mom can successfully make candy coating from chocolate chips and vegetable shortening. Me, nope, can't do it. And believe me, I've tried. Oh how I've tried.




So I melted the candy coating down, kept it over warm water while I coated each mallow, and set them aside to re harden. This was the easy part, though tedious, I thought.



After I did all the strawberry, I realized that if I didn't mark the vanilla somehow, I'd not be able to tell which was which. So as I dipped the vanilla and set them on the rack, I sprinkled the wet chocolate with Cinnamon. And it worked.



This is a Mallow cookie, with a vanilla store bought marshmallow. Yup, still don't like them. The hubby either. And when I called my mom to see if dad would eat them, you know what she said? He only eats the marshmallow part, not the cookie. Yeah. My family is strange.

So now it's Monday and I have the time to make , or attempt to make, homemade marshmallows.



First I gathered up what I'd need and then some. I used almond extract instead of vanilla in my homemade marshmallows and in hindsight, should have used a lot MORE, as I couldn't taste it at all.




I took a few ideas from Audax, whom is rapidly becoming my 'Go To' guy for all things good question related.}:P I filled a 13x9” glass dish with powdered sugar and flattened it out, so I could use it for making molded, sort of, marshmallows.




Only one problem. I had no idea what I could use as a mold impression. Then it hit me, hey! an egg would be perfect! So that’s what I used.}:P And it worked beautifully, rinsed off nicely and got stuck back in the fridge.

Now the marshmallows...



Ok, I admit, I cheated again. I used dried egg white powder instead of using actual eggs. I hear several made ice cream with the yolks of their eggs. Heh. Maybe next time when I’m not so rushed or stressed.



Ok, I measured out the equivalent of 2 egg whites, added the requisite water, and proceeded to whisk...



...and whisk...



...this is gonna take awhile...



... and whisked until FINALLY, they formed soft peaks. Then I set it aside and collapsed. Ok, not really.



Now, I was using a recipe that was mentioned in the DB forum thread (I’ll have to look it up and link to it later), that called for Xathan Gum. So that’s what U used, as it was easier to find that than unflavored gelatin.}:/ Mixed the requisite amount with sugar and set aside.


The recipe also called for a ‘pinch’ of Cream of Tarter. So I literally used a pinch. This went into the water and sugar, then onto the stove for the sugar syrup mixture.



I love this little set. It has , in case you can’t really see, a ‘Pinch’, a ‘Dash’ and a ‘Smidgen’ measurements. If you ever find a set similar, grab them. They come in very handy!

Meanwhile, on the stove, I’ve making my sugar syrup mixture. Actually, I was waiting for it to reach ‘soft ball’ stage. Except, I think it went a little past and into borderline ‘hard ball’ stage.}:/

In between, I’ve put the egg whites in a mixing bowl. and stupid me tried to jump ahead and started to sprinkle the Xathan Gum/sugar mix on the egg whites. Yikes.



Anyway, I added the sugar syrup, slowly, waited until it was thoroughly mixed, then sprinkled what was left of the Xathan Gum/sugar mix over the resulting ‘goo’.



Then I turned the speed up a bit and whipped the crap out of the stuff. It rather reminds me of marshmallow fluff at this point. Another way I knew that the sugar syrup was a little past soft ball stage was when there were crystals in my marshmallow stuffs. Yeah.}:/



I also found that it was rather thick, and most certainly was not pipe-able. So I used a spatula and a finger to shove marshmallow into the molds and stuck a cookie on the bottom, then let them set up. They only took maybe 10 minutes. Hmm.

Needless to say, my marshmallows annoyed the crap out of me.



And I only got roughly 16 out of that batch of marshmallows. *grumbles more* so the rest of the cookies, of course, got store bought.



I dipped them, and set them on a wire rack, just like the previous ones. They looked rather interesting, I must say.




Nope, still don’t like them. Ah well.

Now for the Milan cookies...

They start out with lots of butter and powdered sugar in a mixer. Note- DO NOT double the recipe. I learned my lesson.




You mix the powdered sugar and butter until it’s nicely creamed and fluffy.

Pretend there’s pics of me reconstituting egg white powder and whisking and whisking and... well, you get the point.



Then you slowly add your egg whites to your sugar/butter mix. Let it blend thoroughly. My batter was a bit runny at this point. But I went with it.



You have to add BOTH lemon extract and vanilla extract. A LOT of both. It seemed rather odd, the amount of lemon used, but I went with it.



Then you gradually add your flour, pausing every now and then to scrap down the sides, so it all gets mixed in. Yes, I made a flour mess, as per usual.




After adding the flour, my batter was really, I mean really, fluffy. It tasted good too. I’ll be honest, I couldn’t even taste the lemon extract. Huh.




Now, you’re supposed to pipe it out on parchment lined cookie sheets. Well, I used the only round, plain tip I have (shocking) and my baking stones instead, as I’ve said earlier- I still have no parchment paper. Yeah, yeah.

Well, I piped it out in two lines as per the directions, keeping in mind others’ saying theirs spread like whoa! so I left plenty of room between them.



Well, mine didn’t spread near as much as I thought they would. It might have been the baking stones, it might have been because I doubled the recipe, I have no idea. Needless to say, the rest were piped THREE wide and that was perfect.




I did half of my batter in the plain/vanilla flavour. The other half, I mixed in Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder and made chocolate ones. Yummy.



Doubling the recipe made A LOT of cookies. And I’m not kidding.




I mean A LOT of cookies. NEVER, EVER double this recipe. I’m STILL eating plain cookies. Yeah.



Now I needed to make the ganache filling for the Milan cookies. But not just ANY old ganache filling. Nosirree. Not for me. Nope.



I made FOUR ganache fillings. Yup. FOUR. Orange Flower Water, Rosewater, Lavender, and Cocoa Chile. My kitchen smelled like a flower garden.

I heated up heavy whipping cream, added the flavorings and let them steep a bit. The Lavender I then strained. The Cocoa Chile is in powder form, so it was dumped on top of the Ghiradelli chocolate I used as the base.

I mixed each ganache one at a time until thoroughly blended. Then I needed to figure out how exactly I was going to fill the cookies- what cookie/ganache combinations, that is.



Once the ganache had cooled and set enough to be spreadable, but not runny, I filled about a dozen of each flavour. We’ll pretend there’s lots of photos showing me doing this, but it was getting late, I was tired and well, I didn’t take any more photos at this point cause I plain forgot. Whoops.

But here they are, in all their glory...



Full plating of all four flavors.



Cocoa Chile Ganache filled Dark Chocolate Milan cookies, dipped in dark chocolate and toffee pieces. This was proclaimed the favorite.



Lavender Ganache filled vanilla Milan cookies, dipped in dark chocolate. You could really smell, as well as taste, the Lavender in these. Very nice.



Orange Flower Water Ganache filled Dark Chocolate Milan cookies. Rather disappointing, honestly. The Orange Flower Water flavor doesn’t come through.}:/



Rosewater Ganache filled Vanilla Milan cookies. This... this was a surprise. You tasted a SCENT, rather than a TASTE, with these. The after taste was the scent of roses in your mouth, nose and throat. Quite delightful.

Will I make either recipe again? Probably not, honestly. I most likely will never make homemade marshmallows again, I so did not enjoy that part. If I don’t enjoy baking or cooking something, chances are, I’ll never do it again. So, yeah, at least I can say I HAVE made homemade marshmallows now. So there’s that, at least.

The Milan cookies, well, I might make them again. Just... not doubling the recipe next time.}:P

Thanks for an interesting Challenge, Nicole!

THE RECIPES-

Mallows (Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 15 min (cookies only)
Inactive Prep Time: 1 hours or up to 3 days (cookies only)
Cook Time: 10 min (cookies only)
Serves: About 4 dozen cookies at 1 - 1.5 inch

• 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 follows

1.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 cling film 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 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.

Prep Time: 5 min (marshmallows only)
Inactive Prep Time: 2 hours (marshmallows only)
Cook Time: 10-20 min (marshmallows only, includes cooking sugar & whipping marshmallow)
Serves: About 4 dozen cookies at 1 - 1.5 inch

Homemade marshmallows: (NOT the recipe I used)
• 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

1.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.
Prep Time: 5 min (glaze only)
Inactive Prep Time: N/A
Cook Time: 5-7 min (glaze only)
Serves: Enough to dip about 4 doz. cookies at 1 - 1.5 inch

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. 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: 1 hour or more (shaping cookies and filling cookies)
Inactive Prep Time: 10 min.
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves: About 5 doz. cookies at 1 inch by 3 inch

• 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

1.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. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
8.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.
9.Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

SimplePleasure
Recipes from The Food Network Website
Gale Gand