Mint Milanos – NOT
Posted by in Food
I love Pepperidge Farm Mint Milano cookies. They are soft and sandy, with a lovely chocolate mint center. They are heaven if kept in the freezer. I had to try Martha’s version, which is called Mint-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, in the Sept issue of Everyday Food.
I’m still heartbroken over this one. The trouble started with the dough (1 1/4 c flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 stick butter, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 egg). You’re supposed to use a pastry bag to get it on the sheets. I actually got mine out this time and loaded it (usually I am a pastry bag-phobe). It didn’t work. The dough was so crumbly and dense, that it just sat in there like cement. I tried a baggie (the alternate method) and this blew a hole out the side of the bag. I gave up and rolled this into balls and flattened it on the sheets. I knew then I was in trouble – there was no chance it would have the right texture. Chill the dough, check. Bake for 15 min. Not quite! Mine took much longer.
Then make the filling. Melt 4 oz semisweet chocolate in one bowl. In another mix 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp peppermint extract, and 4 tsp water. Cool the cookies and put one filling on one half and the other on the other half and stick it together. Mine proceeded to slide apart. So I let the two halves sit a while until the fillings firmed up, then stuck them together. It worked.
These, however, were horrible. Hockey puck tough. The mint was so minty and strong it gave me heartburn. Into the trash they went. Total, unmitigated disaster. And now I’ll have to buy a bag of Mint Milanos to console myself. Well, things could be worse I suppose:)
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Ohmygod, I’d be sobbing if my homemade Mint Milanos had to be chucked! That is a catastrophe of epic proportions, in my (cook)book.
I was pretty PO’ed. Everyone else in the family now says they weren’t that bad. Teen Martha says she could not taste any mint at all, while it was so strong it gave me heartburn. Mr. MarthaAndMe says they were good dipped in milk and that mitigated them being hockey pucks. I am wondering if each cookie was completely different. I heart REAL mint milanos. They are so evil though – all white flour and sugar. Just heaven.
I love MInt Milanos too but would never think to actually make them from scratch, as I’m a lousy baker.
Now, thanks to you, I don’t have to feel like I should. I love that you attempt to cook unexpected things and are completely upfront when a recipe is an absolute fail.
Thanks Sarah. It often makes me feel like loser because obviously it passed muster in their test kitchens, so I wonder, what am I doing wrong?
You’re amazing for trying to save them. Don’t fret. Girl Guides will be door knocking soon so you can get your share of chocolatey mint cookies instead. 🙂
the proportions in both parts of the recipe seem a bit strange to me — maybe if you forgot about this and created a recipe from scratch on your own?
Mint choc cookies are my faves. Mint Milanos, Thin Mints and Down Under I’ve found Mint Slices. Sigh. Now I want mint cookies!
I’m thinking Martha has the worst rate of successful recipes. I would be crying in my milk!!! 🙁
There are really some that completely stink at least in my experience. THen there are many others that turn out, but I just don’t care for that much. THere is a small exclusive club of recipes I go mad for and I am always hoping for one of those.
Thin Mints, oh, don’t get me started. Actually Martha has a recipe for that one too that I tried a year or so ago and it was really good.
They don’t come to our door! I know – complete tragedy. Actually Girl Scouts are no longer supposed to go door to door – it’s too dangerous. So they sell to people they know or they set up tables outside Walmart. Teen Martha had a pal that was a Girl Scout and I used to hit her up for my supply, but sadly she is now in college and I need a new dealer!
I love to freeze Milanos, too. It makes them taste that much better, I think!
I like most chocolate things cold – chocolate chip cookies are much better cold!