These homemade Milano cookies are crisp, buttery sandwich cookies filled with rich chocolate ganache. They taste even better than the store-bought version and can be customized with mint, orange, raspberry, or espresso.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix together the flour and salt. Set aside.
Cream the butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and egg white until well combined. Add the vanilla and melted butter, then mix until smooth. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Fit a piping bag with a large ½" round piping tip and fill with the cookie dough.
Pipe 2-inch lines of dough two inches apart on the parchment paper. Bake for 9 - 10 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
Turn off the heat and crack open the oven, and leave the cookies there to crisp for about 10 - 20 minutes, keeping an eye on them so they don't get too dark at the edges.
Allow to cool completely.
While the cookies are baking, heat the chocolate and heavy cream over a double boiler until smooth. Allow to cool completely.
Drop a teaspoon of the ganache onto half the cookies and top with the other half of the cookies. The ganache will harden over time.
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
Yes, this recipe uses both room temperature butter and a small amount of melted butter. The room temperature butter helps create the cookie dough structure, while the melted butter helps with the delicate Milano-style texture.To flavor the ganache, add a few drops of extract to the heavy cream before melting it with the chocolate. Start small, especially with mint extract, because a little goes a long way.For the crispest cookies, let them cool completely before filling and store them in an airtight container.