Aug 18: Third Time the Salumi

Last Friday, 14 Aug... Third times the charm... we finally made it to Salumi. Salumi is a local artisan cured meat shop run by Armadino Batali (Father of Iron Chef Mario Batali). Their specialty is Italian cured meats - salami, proscuitto, coppa (capicola) and more!

When I moved to the Pacific Northwest 8 years ago, I went through the different food discussion forums to find what the locals recommended. Salumi was a place that people raved about. Based upon the info, they were only open for lunch.

I can't get away from work to drive to Seattle for a 2 hour lunch! So we tucked that place for a later date

8 years later! Now that I have some vacation time built up, recently, we made an effort to go for lunch, only to be denied two other times.

Try #1: (Friday, July 3rd) They have a website! There hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11 to 4 pm. I have the day off so let's go try the place out. As we drive by the shop, we notice there's no line. After parking and walking to the store front, we see a hand written sign, "On Vacation till xxx" What??? Why don't they mention their vacation on their website? Argh!

Try #2 (Friday, July 17, 2009) - Bite of Seattle... the plan is to hit The Bite and leave early. However, by the time we leave, it's 3:30 pm and can't get to Salumi before 4 pm! Argh!

Try #3 (Friday, Aug 14, 2009) - It's a Friday... (Check) They should be back from vacation. (Check). We're leaving early to get their around or before 11 A.M. (Check) We have change for the parking meters? (Check) Okay, let's cross our fingers and go.

We drive by the shop at 10:45 AM. Wow! There's already a line of about 20 people. At least, we know they're open today. :-) We park and walk up to the shop about 10:55. Now they're 30 people in front of us.

However, we made it!

10 minutes before opening and the line wraps around the corner.


We stake out our place in line... Not bad, we still see the sign and around the corner is our goal. While we're waiting in line, a worker walks down the line to hand out samples. Very nice!

People from the back were coming up to ask her what the wait was for them. She estimated an hour for those in back. Yikes!


We turn the corner to see the specials. Chiccharones! Hmm... should I or shouldn't I?


The threshold of the front door is within a step or two... This is a long, narrow building that reveals another line!


Through the front door, we see an indication of the porcine goodness that awaits those who enter.


Another board with more delicious choices!


The specials on display in the case.
Proscuitto with figs, pasta, cracklings and the bean salad.
We're eager to order!


The sandwich special on display!


The workers are cranking through the orders.


Finally, I order my sandwich. Hurray!
Hot sopressata salami on a ciabatta. Dressed with a parsley, bread crumb, olive oil mixture (on the left) and a garlic, bread crumb, olive oil mixture (on the right).

No mayo or mustard here.


Our sandwiches!

I ordered a hot (garlic and cayenne) sopressata salami with fresh mozzarella, cooked onion and green pepper on a ciabatta.


K ordered the Salumi salami (mint, garlic and ginger) with provolone, cooked onion and green pepper on an olive roll.


S ordered their meatball sandwich with provolone, onions, peppers on a French baguette.


Salumi has limited seating so we had our order "to go". The cashier suggested the plaza around the corner as a nice place to sit and eat. However, while walking to the plaza, he heard and saw a waterfall with seats.


The sandwiches were delicious. The bread was delicious, the salami was terrific! All the ingredients complemented the salami without masking the flavor.

The marinara on the meatballs was fresh and not overpowering. The meatballs was a mixture of ground and chunks meat. I like the added texture of the meat chunks. The flavor was like a mild Italian sausage with fennel.

I'm glad we were finally able to make it down here for lunch.
It all made for a fun and relaxing lunch for the three of us. :-)

Aug 14: Daring Cooks' Spanish Rice

Time for another Daring Cooks' Challenge!


This months Daring Cooks' Challenge is brought to us by Olga from Las Cosas de Olga and Olga’s Recipes. She has chosen a delicious Spanish recipe, Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish and Artichokes by José Andrés, one of the most important Spanish Chefs at the moment.

The recipe is from his US TV show, Made in Spain.

* Note: I substituted shrimp in place of the cuttlefish. Cuttlefish is a difficult ingredient to find locally.

This dish involves three main components - Sofregit (which is used in the main dish), the main rice dish and Allioli (a condiment). Since sofregit is needed for the main dish, I made sofregit first.

Sofregit (a well cooked and fragrant sauce made of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and onions, and may at times different vegetables such as peppers or mushrooms)-

Cooking time: aprox. 1 hour
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1 Bay leaf
Salt
Touch of ground cumin
Touch of dried oregano

Directions:

Practicing my knife skills. A very straight forward recipe. Cut stuff up and cook it down. Salt as needed.


1. Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.
2. Taste and salt if necessary.

The finished sofregit.


While the sofregit was cooking, the next step was to make the Allioi. We have two options, a traditional recipe and a modern version. Traditional is the way I went... Who am I to question tradition?

Allioli is the optional part of the recipe. You must choose one of the two recipes given, even though I highly recommend you to try traditional one. Allioli is served together with the rice and it gives a very nice taste.

Allioli (Traditional recipe)
Cooking time: 20 min approx.
Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, peeled
Pinch of salt
Fresh lemon juice (some drops)
Extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish preferred but not essential)

Directions:

1. Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt.
2. Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.)
3. Add the lemon juice to the garlic.
4. Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle.
5. Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go.
6. Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

Actually, I cheated with the mortar and pestle step, so much for being "traditional". Since I didn't have a mortar and pestle, I used a grating plate to break down the garlic into a puree. Now it's all about mixing the other ingredients together.


An improvised mortar and pestle, mainly used to mix in the olive oil as I drizzled it in drop by drop. A plastic salsa bowl and the end of a knife.


My finished sauce... I estimate I added about 2 T of olive oil

José's tips for traditional recipe: It's hard to think that, when you start crushing the garlic, it will ever turn into something as dense and smooth as allioli. But don't give up. It's worth the extra time and effort to see the oil and garlic come together before your eyes. Just make sure you're adding the olive oil slowly, drop by drop. Keep moving the pestle around the mortar in a circular motion and keep dreaming of the thick, creamy sauce at the end of it all.

Modern recipe included for reference. When I see Aioli on a restaurant menu, I envision garlic mayonnaise.

Allioli a la moderna (Modern recipe)
Cooking time: 3-4 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1 small egg
* 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (as above, Spanish oil is highly recommended)
* 1 garlic clove, peeled
* 1 Tbs. Spanish Sherry vinegar or lemon juice (if Sherry vinegar is not available, use can use cider or white vinegar)
* Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Break the egg into a mixing bowl.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic cloves, along with the vinegar or lemon juice.
3. Using a hand blender, start mixing at high speed until the garlic is fully pureed into a loose paste.
4. Little by little, add what's left of the olive oil as you continue blending.
5. If the mixture appears too thick as you begin pouring the oil, add 1 teaspoon of water to loosen the sauce.
6. Continue adding the oil and blending until you have a rich, creamy allioli.
7. The sauce will be a lovely yellow color.
8. Add salt to taste.

José's tips for modern recipe:
(1) If you do not have access to a hand blender, you can use a hand mixer (the kind with the two beaters) or a food processor. If you use a food processor, you must double the recipe or the amount will be too little for the blades to catch and emulsify.
(2) What happens if the oil and egg separate? Don't throw it out. You can do two things. One is to whisk it and use it as a side sauce for a fish or vegetable. But if you want to rescue the allioli, take 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water in another beaker and start adding to the mix little by little. Blend it again until you create the creamy sauce you wanted.

Finally, onto cooking the Challenge dish!!!

Rice with Mushrooms, Cuttlefish and Artichokes (Modified to use shrimp)
Ingredients (serves 4):

4 Artichokes (you can use jarred or freezed if fresh are not available)
12 Mushrooms (button or Portobello)
1 or 2 Bay leaves (optional but highly recommended)
1 glass of white wine
2 Cuttlefish (you can use freezed cuttlefish or squid if you don’t find it fresh) [1 lb 61/70 shrimp]
“Sofregit”
300 gr (2 cups) Short grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant are preferred, but you can choose any other short grain. This kind of rice absorbs flavor very well) – about 75 gr per person ( ½ cup per person) Please read this for more info on suitable rices.
Water or Fish Stock (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice) [3 C liquid per 1 C rice ! Wow! I usually use a 1.5 C of liquid to 1 C rice. This recipe uses almost double what I would use. However, I'll stick with the recipe and keep the faith. :-) Also, I made a shrimp stock, about 3 C, and supplemented the remaining liquid with chicken broth.]
Saffron threads (if you can’t find it or afford to buy it, you can substitute it for turmeric or yellow coloring powder)

Directions:

1. Cut the cuttlefish in little strips. [Shrimp was shelled and deviened]
2. Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the cuttlefish [shrimp] in the pan.

Sauteed shrimp and, to avoid overcooking all of the shrimp, reserve half for later.


3. If you use fresh artichokes, cut artichokes in eights.

I used canned artichokes from Spain which seemed appropriate. Some of the hearts included leaves which were a little fibrous. I used a shear to cut off the leaves and reserved the hearts.


4. Clean the mushrooms and cut them in fourths.

Mushrooms and artichoke hearts added to the shrimp in the pan.


5. Add a bay leaf to the cuttlefish and add also the artichokes and the mushrooms.
6. Sauté until we get a golden color in the artichokes.
7. Put a touch of white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed, getting a more flavorful dish.
8. Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit.
9. Add all the liquid and bring it to boil.
10. Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat.

Brought the broth and veg mixture to a full boil before adding the medium grain rice.

I didn't find the Spanish rice mentioned. Researching the Internet, medium grain rice is a recommended substitution for paella.

Weighing out 200 g of rice, worked out to 1 1/2 C of medium grain rice, instead of 2 C. Using the same liquid to rice ratio, that worked out to 4 1/2 C liquid (broth, shrimp stock and saffron tea)


11. Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon.

Soaking the saffron - according to Jose, this step is not needed, but I felt it's always a good thing to do. A couple pinches of saffron in 1/4 C hot water. Allowed to sit about 1 hour.


Adding the saffron infused liquid into the cooking rice. A gentle stir to spread the liquid throughout the dish.


12. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”)

Added the partially cooked shrimp back into the rice and allowed to "simmer." At 8 minutes, the rice was still a little crunchy. I estimate this dish simmered for 30 minutes to cook the medium grain rice completely.


13. Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

The cooked dish and ready for plating.


Olga’s Tips:
(1) In Spain, rice is not stirred as often as it is when cooking Italian risotto. You must stir it once or twice maximum. This tip is valid for all Spanish rice dishes like paella, arròs negre, arròs a banda…
(2) When cooking the alternative style you can change the cuttlefish or squid for diced potato.
(3) If you can’t find cuttlefish or squid, or you’re not able to eat them because of allergies, you can try to substitute them for chicken or vegetables at your choice.
(4) Sofregit can be done in advance. You can keep it in the fridge or even freeze it.
(5) For more information on how to clean and remove the heart of artichokes, please watch this video
(6) To watch how Jose Andres cooks this dish click here.
(7) To tone down the taste when you do it by hand in a mortar, then add an egg yolk. If you want to tone it down in the alternative way use milk or soy milk. Anyway, the best alternative way is the original oil and garlic alone.
(8) Allioli must be consumed during the preparation day and preserved in the fridge before using it.

Since I used shrimp, a common use for the shells is to make a stock.

Shrimp Stock
Shells from 1 lb of shrimp
1/2 C Onion, chopped
1/4 C Celery, chopped
1/4 C Carrot, chopped
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 C Mushroom bits
Pinch of Thyme, dried
Two pinches of Parsley, dried
Two pinches of Salt
A couple grinds of Black Pepper
1 quart (4 Cups) Water

1. Saute the vegetables to soften
2. Add the shrimp shells and saute for a minute.

Cooking the aromatics and the shrimp shells... No need to brown.


3. Add the herbs and spice, plus the 1 quart of water.
4. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer for an hour.
5. After an hour, filter out the stock through a colander. The recipe started with 4 cups of water, after the one hour simmer there was about 3 cups of stock remaining.

The Plated Challenge

Allioli dabbed on the side and sofregit on the side too.
As you eat the rice, you mix in or dab a little allioli on each bite.


The dish was good, but surprisingly mild. The sofregit on the side was a tasty addition. The allioli also added a nice flavor, but gave a surprising wallop! The allioli starts off with a nice garlicky flavor. As the allioli heads to the back of the mouth, it becomes spicy hot! Reminds me of a habanero pepper or a garlicky horseradish... the initial taste is sweet and fruity (for a fraction of a second) and then the heat blows you away.

Another surprise, the rice did cook up nicely using the 3:1 ratio. When I decided to substitute the cuttlefish with shrimp. I wanted to stay as close to the original recipe as possible without pushing the recipe towards a seafood paella. However, for the future, the addition of more seafood (crab and squid) and sausage (like chorizo) would add a little pop to the dish.

Overall, the mushrooms and artichokes formed a delicious combination!

Jul 21: Cool and Refreshing

It's HOT! 90F to 100F!

A cool, refreshing drink I enjoy when I find it being served at the local Mexican restaurants is Jamaica - sweetened iced hibiscus tea.

When it comes to Mexican foods and recipes, I look to Rick Bayless. He's an American chef that specializes in the various cuisines of Mexico. Fortunately, I found his recipe for Agua de Jamaica.

Ref: Rick Bayless's Jamaica Cooler

The recipe is straight forward 2 ounces of dried hibiscus flowers, 1 1/4 C sugar and 3 quarts of water. I only purchased 1 ounce of Jamaica I approximately halved the recipe.

I started with 5 cups of water. I know 4 cups makes 1 quart, but that didn't seem like enough water. Also, via some quick and erroneous math... I calculated 75 g of sugar.

My recipe is as follows...

Hibiscus Tea - Jamaica (Phonetically: ha-my-eek-ah)

Ingredients
1 cups (1 ounces) dried jamaica “flowers”
6T (75g) Sugar
5 C Water

1) Bring two cups of water to a boil.
2) Add the sugar and the hibiscus. NOTE: I gave the flowers a quick soak and rinse to remove any dust.
3) Stir until the sugar dissolves.
4) Steep about 1 hour
5) Strain the liquid and press/squeeze the flowers to extract the liquid from the flowers.
6) Chill before serving... over ice.

The raw ingredients - Sugar and the dried hibiscus flowers


Wow! This is a stronger drink than what's found in the Mexican restaurants.
Typically, in the restaurants the flavors are more restrained.

This batch has the flavor of tea leaves with the tartness of cranberries. A slightly musty, earthy aroma and taste too. I'm glad I miscalculated the sugar.... the 75 g of sugar is more than enough.... which makes sense. 5 cups of water and a little over 1 T sugar makes for a sweet drink. It's almost like a coffee with 3 or 4 cubes of sugar.

Next time I could probably get away with 2 quarts of water per 1 ounce of jamaica while only using 75 g of sugar (which works out to about 2 t per cup).

The flowers naturally colors the drink a pleasing red.

On a hot day, this is a cool and refreshing drink.

Jul 27: Daring Bakers' Cookies!

This is my one year anniversary challenge as a Daring Baker!

Hard to believe that a year ago my fingers were developing a callous and aching. I was cussing out the hazelnuts I was skinning. While spending the whole day (it was a hot day too) in the kitchen making a tremendous mess, I was asking myself, "Geez! What have I gotten myself into?"

That was the July 2008 challenge, a Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream. If you're interested, take a read of the challenge, July 2008 DB Challenge.

What a difference a year makes!
I'm more at ease with the DB challenges, but I still make a mess, use every pot, pan, baking dish and utensil I can find. It's a guy thing.

Moving forward to 2009...
The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milano Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

For the challenge, you choose one or do both recipes. Of course, I daringly made both recipes. :-)
Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract [I opted to use 1 T Almond Extract. I was leery of using 2T of almond extract so I used 1 T. I could have gotten away with 1.5 T]
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped [I used semisweet chocolate chips]
• 1 orange, zested [I left out the orange zest]

The recipes implies using a stand mixer. I used a hand mixer instead.
1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.

The flour being mixed into the batter. Yes, the cookie dough was like a thick batter... instead of being a firm dough.


4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.

I don't have a 1/4-inch plain tip so I used my favorite tool - the Ziploc bag with a 1/4-inch corner cut off. Using the real Milano as a guide, I piped a swirl pattern.


5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

The dough spread out and the swirl all melded together. This resulting cookie is reminiscent of the tuile challenge from January. Darn... I was hoping to get the little pip like the real Milan cookie.


6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.

The thin coating of chocolate is applied. One coat for the cookie. One lick for me. One coat for the cookie. One lick for me. Oops... for a second I thought I was Paula Deen. :-)


10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.


The second part of the challenge had a cookie component and a marshmallow component.
I've always wanted to make my own marshmallows, but I just didn't have the time. However, for the challenge I made time.

Mallows (Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

The recipes implies using a stand mixer. I wanted to try making the cookie dough in a "less mess", self-contained, easy to clean method... In other words, I just threw everything into a plastic storage bag and squeezed the bag to mix. It actually worked nicely.

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.

Softened butter is a must for this "all in the bag" method.


3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.

This shot was taken to show the crumb texture of the flour-butter mixture.


4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.

6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.

Looking at my cookie cutters, they were 2 to 2.5 inch in diameter. I found that the cap to the spice jar was just a touch over 1.5" diameter. The cap was used as my cookie cutter. :)


8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Onto the fun part!
Homemade marshmallows:
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites , room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.

Mixing the gelatin into the hot syrup. The bowl below is my original gelatin mixture. For some reason, I got into my head that the gelatin is bloomed in 2 Cups of water. It didn't make sense and fortunately I reread the recipe. 2T of water! NOT 2 cups! lol! I must be on a sugar high!


4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.

This marshmallow recipe called for using egg whites.
Gasp! Raw egg whites!!! Are you Crazy???
Well... pouring in the 230 F syrup and mixing takes care of any beasties in the raw egg.
That mixture was very hot! I could feel the heat on the bottom of the bowl.
Heating to 160F for a few minutes kills off any bacteria. At least that's what I'm telling myself.


5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.

Hot syrup and eggs being mixed together! Whipping the eggs to soft peaks took about a minute. Whipping this mixture to something stiff took about 10 to 15 minutes!


10 to 15 minutes later! Whew! I thought I messed up when the mixture didn't stiffen up. I just kept mixing and mixing and mixing. Finally, I noticed the beater was leaving a trail in the marshmallow so I knew I was getting somewhere!


6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Assembling the Mallows
1. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.

Another Ziploc with the marshmallows!
The cookies baked with the top a little rounded/dome-like. I wasn't sure if the marshmallows would be soupy and runny when I piped it or it would retain it's shape. The cookie was flipped over for the marshmallow kiss. I reasoned the bottom, being flat or slightly concave, would hold the marshmallow better than the top.


2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.

I only baked 1/3 of the cookie dough and the yield was about 36 to 42 cookies. The recipe states it makes only 2 dozen. Hmmm... I made 3 to 4 dozen using only 1/3 of the dough. There's a disconnect somewhere.


3. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.

The chocolate dipping process! The chocolate was in a double boiler and was still rather thick. I used the fork to roll the cookie in the chocolate.


4. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.

5. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

A few done and hundreds to go! LOL!
These cookies are best made during a cool day... which I didn't have. The chocolate took about 4 hours to set.


The Final Results
So how did these cookies compare to the commercially available products?
Let's take a look.

The Milan0s

On the left, the homemade Milanos.
On the right, the store-bought Milans.

The cookie of the real Milanos are more like a shortbread cookie, while the homemade Milanos are softer more Tuile=like. Also, the homemade Milanos become softer when exposed to the air.

The flavor of the homemade Milanos are actually better with complex and pleasing flavor - vanilla with a hint of almond. The store bought Milanos are mainly sweet and crunchier.

The Mallows

The mallows turned out to be my favorite! The cookie has a nice cinnamon flavor without being overpowering. The marshmallow turned out very well - light and fluffy.

As the day went on, I was running out of chocolate. What I opted to do was coat the bottom of the cookie and use a little parchment coronet to pipe chocolate on the top (the cookies on the right). One thing I found out about cooling chocolates, if you cool too fast like I did by using the refrigerator (the cut sample), the chocolate will bloom which results in a dull, sandy appearance. This is due to the chocolate forming large crystals. Blooming doesn't effect the taste, it's more of an appearance thing. At least, I didn't notice a change in taste. :)

Overall, a fun and easier challenge for my one year anniversary challenge. Both cookies turned out nicely, but my favorite is the mallows.