Pepperidge Farms Milano Cookie Copycat

Total Time: 3 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 3 hrs Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole almond (toasted and cooled)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons sugar (divided)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (softened)
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate or 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Recipe

• 1 toast almonds- spread on baking sheet and insert in preheated 350*f oven, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until nuts are lightly toasted to pale golden brown process almonds in food processor with the 3 tbs of sugar until almonds are finely ground.
• 2 set aside.
• 3 sift the flour, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of wax paper or into a bowl.
• 4 set aside.
• 5 cream butter with remaining 3/4 cups sugar until mixture is light in colour and texture (at least 3 minutes).
• 6 beat egg and almond extract;then the almond mixture into to butter mixture until just smooth.
• 7 on a low speed, beat in flour mixture until just smooth.
• 8 cover dough tightly in plastic wrap.
• 9 refrigerate at least 2 hours (or until well chilled) or up to 5 days.
• 10 position racks in oven to center and top third of oven and preheat to 350*f.
• 11 line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly butter them.
• 12 portion dough into 80 pieces, about 1 tsp each.
• 13 roll into balls.
• 14 (i have heard that you can put two bits of dough in one hand and roll them into 2 balls between your palms, which will cut your rolling time in half.) place balls about 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets.
• 15 do not crowd.
• 16 it is likely that 3 sheets will be needed to bake all of the cookies.
• 17 bake, switching the position of the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after about 5-6 minutes.
• 18 cook another 5-6 minutes, or until lightly browned all over.
• 19 let cookies cool on the sheets for about 3 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks and cool completely.
• 20 melt chocolate (a double boiler is recommended, but any method is fine).
• 21 spread about 1/2 tsp on the underside of a cookie, then lightly sandwich between another cookie.
• 22 alternatively-a parchment cone can be filled with melted chocolate and the chocolate can be piped onto cookies before being sandwiched.
• 23 refrigerate cookies breifly to set chocolate, but they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for some time.
• 24 **fora fancier cookie** lightly brush each cookie with an egg glaze (beat 1 egg+ 1 tsp water) and top with a few sliced almonds before baking.