February 14th is nearly on its way, and the color of these delicious strawberry-mint thin, crisp butter cookies is reminiscent of Valentine’s Day. I’m planning a super romantic dinner for Lulu. I was home alone today, so I took the opportunity to start testing out some of the dishes to make a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner.
Pink was the theme color I was looking for. I couldn’t find strawberry-flavored white chocolate at the store, so I substituted pink-colored mint chocolate apeels and bought some strawberry extract. The sandwich cookies freeze well, so I stacked and stored them for Valentine’s Day.
Unfortunately, after taste-testing the cookies I realized I forgot to make them heart-shaped! I was a little bummed out. If you’re planning on making these cookies for your sweetie, draw hearts on the other side of the parchment paper with a pencil, and pipe the cookie batter along the line of the heart. Oh well, I’m sure Lulu won’t mind!
1. Info for Strawberry Mint Milano Cookies (Chocolate Sandwich Cookies)
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 24
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Strawberry Mint Milano Cookies (Chocolate Sandwich Cookies)
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 4 egg whites (145 grams), at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons strawberry extract
- 14 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pink-colored mint chocolate apeels (see tips)
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
3. Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the butter with powdered sugar using a handheld mixer. Add the egg whites and 1-½ teaspoons of strawberry extract. Whisk for about 30 seconds; do NOT over-mix. Add flour and salt. Mix until the mixture is smooth. Chill in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking tray. I needed 3 baking trays for the entire batch of cookies. Spread about 2 teaspoons of cookie batter, creating disks (or hearts if you like), onto the parchment paper. If you want heart-shaped cookies, start piping along the outline of the heart and then fill the inside.
- Bake for about 8-9 minutes until the edges of the cookies are slightly golden. Remove from the oven.
- Using a spatula, transfer the cookies onto several cooking racks; they will firm up as they cool completely.
- Place a pot filled with hot water (at a gentle simmer), topped with a piece of cloth so the bowl does not move and place a stainless-steel bowl filled with the mint chocolate chips on top. Turn off the heat. Temperature of the water shouldn’t exceed 118°F (you can get a digital thermometer at IKEA for a reasonable price). Melt the chocolate chips (see tips) with heavy cream and add ½ teaspoon of strawberry extract.
- Once cooled, whip the ganache (at a low speed) until creamy and smooth for 2 minutes. Transfer the ganache to a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip (or simply use an icing spatula). Use immediately. If the chocolate hardens, place the chocolate back in the double boiler and repeat the instructions above.
- Once the cookies harden, pipe about ½ to 1 teaspoon of the ganache onto the flat side of half the cookies. Place another cookie on top and gently press to make the filling visible. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Allow to set until the chocolate hardens for about 2 hours.
- Bon appétit!
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