Mint Milanos

The Milano cookie as we know it made its way into the American  market as part of Pepperidge Farm’s “European” cookie line in the 1950’s, specifically the Seville Summer Assortment. They were initially sold as the Naples cookie, which was an open face vanilla biscuit with one side dipped in chocolate. However, Pepperidge Farm quickly realized that selling in the much warmer South was going to cause product control issues melting), so they put two together and, voila, Milanos.

The Mint Milano variation was released in 1968, the first of many flavored Milanos that were to come. A delicate crisp cookie, with a refreshing mint ganache sandwiched in the middle, this is one of those treats that, like its fellow pleated paper cupped friend, Ferrero Rocher, felt really fancy when you were a kid, but feel indulgent and perfectly within reach as an adult. 

There are now more than 20 different flavors of Milanos, from the delectable seasonal Peppermint Milano Slices, to the questionable (in my humble opinion) White Chocolate Strawberry Milano to inspire your baking, or at the very least, snacking.

Yield: Approximately 20 sandwich cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies

• 1.5 cup AP flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ Tbsp cornstarch
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened 
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp milk

Ganache

• 8 oz dark or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• ⅓ cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp mint extract

Direction:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Measure flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt into a bowl and set aside. 

Beat butter in the bowl of a mixer until light and fluffy.

Add sugars and mix until light and fluffy (1-2 minutes)

Add egg and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined. 

Slowly beat in flour mixture, adding milk just before everything is completely combined.

Fill the bottom corner of a piping bag with your batter. 

Cut the tip of your bag so that you have a ½-inch wide tip.

Pipe the cookies, leaving 3 inches in between cookies, and making each cookie roughly 2 ½ inches long. These cookies will expand significantly. 

Bake for 8-11 minutes.

Let cool on a cooling rack. 

Ganache:

Chop chocolate and place into the bottom of a heatproof bowl.

Heat cream until it begins to form tiny bubbles around the edges. Do not boil.

Pour cream over chocolate and let sit for 1 minute.

Stir mixture together until smooth, and set aside to cool slightly.

Tips:

1. For this recipe, I use what is essentially a langue de chat recipe to achieve the trademark light crispy cookie. If piping is too intimidating, you can also use a not-too-sweet sugar cookie recipe rolled out to roughly ¼-inch thickness, chilled for 30 minutes, and cut to your liking. Unless you have an oval cookie cutter, your cookies will be roughly the shape (well, sort of) of the cutter you choose. 
2. Filling a piping bag can be tricky, assuming you only have two hands. Place the bag into a bowl or glass for stability while you scoop your batter into the bag. 
3. Don’t worry too much if your piped dough looks more like caterpillars than long smooth fingers, the edges will round when the cookie spreads. 
4. If you don’t trust yourself to pip consistent cookies, use a ruler to draw 2 ½-inch lines 3 inches apart on your parchment, then flip the parchment over onto your pan so you’re not piping on top of the pen marks.

Variations:

1. Thanks to the brilliant minds at Milano’s headquarters, we already have a host of flavor variations to try. 

• Add orange zest or oil for chocolate orange Milanos
• Add almond oil for Amaretto Milanos
• Add cinnamon to your cookie for a warm, holiday vibe.
• And of course plain ganache, for a plain (but never boring!) Milano

2. Although I use dark chocolate for my ganache, you can also substitute milk chocolate if you’d prefer. 
3. I love using this recipe to make tiny Milanos by piping 1-inch long cookies with a slightly smaller opening on the piping bag.