Milano Cookies by Accident

I made some sugar cookies one day and because they were too sweet for me I decided to spread some bittersweet chocolate on them to cut the sweetness and WOW, they reminded me of the Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies I loved so much. Only thing you have to remember when making these is to chill the dough very well and cut the cookies off to be baked as thin as possible. I like crispy cookies anyway and this is the only way I can get the dough hard enough to shave off the cookies with my bench knife. That's the key to these "sandwich" cookies. also, I use shortening that is a mix of vegetable and animal fats. That might make a difference in the taste or crispness of these cookies. I'm guessing at the amount of cookies since it depends on the size and shape you make but I've found that this is a soft dough until it's refrigerated and then the roll is kind of a 1" thick oval so the cookies, when assembled, actually resemble a Milano cookie.

• Ready In: 26 mins
• Yields: 2-4 dozen

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 cup butter, softened
• 3⁄4 cup shortening, room temperature
• 2  cups granulated sugar
• 4  eggs
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5  cups all-purpose flour
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1 (12 ounce) package bittersweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions

1. Cream butter, shortening and sugar until smooth.
2. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Stir in dry ingredients thoroughly.
4. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap and chill overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 400º.
6. Unwrap one roll of dough and using a metal bench knife or a very sharp knife cut off cookies as thin as you can and place 1” apart on ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper.
7. Bake 6-8 minutes but DO NOT BROWN. Cool.
8. Spread the melted chocolate between two of the cookies to make a sandwich.