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.
This is my first Daring Bakers challenge and it was definitely a blast from the past, or at least half of it was. I've never had a Milano cookie but the marshmallow puff was a childhood staple.
We used to live across the street from my grandparents when we were growing up and we could always be assured that they would have a box of marshmallow cookies in the cupboard. Our absolute favourites were wagon wheels but good old viva puffs would do just fine too. So I was very excited at the prospect of making my own.
I decided to make the Milan cookies first. My first batch was disappointing - like many other Daring Bakers, my cookies spread more than I anticipated and I ended up with gigantic blobs. I managed to salvage a few from my second batch and, frustrated by my failures, for my third batch I decided to use my madeleine tins. I'm not sure if I didn't bake them enough but these cookies were quite cakey and soft where I was expecting something more crisp although, never having tasted a Milano cookie, I don't know why I thought that would be the case. Oh well, they weren't very pretty but they were still tasty.
Then I tackled the mallow cookies. OMG! Where to begin? The base was similar to a crumbly shortbread with a hint of cinnamon, topped with a cloud of homemade marshmallow and coated with dark chocolate. A grown-up version of the viva puff!
And this is why I love these challenges - quite frankly it would never have occurred to me to make mallow cookies at home. Now that I have I've been spoiled forever because once you've had the homemade version there's no going back!
Thank you Nicole for taking me on this nostalgic trip back to simpler times!
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