These homemade milano cookies produce a buttery, delicious chocolate filled cookie made healthier at home and with just 4 ingredients. You won't know you aren't eating the iconic Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie.
These copycat homemade milano cookies are buttery and delicious and best of all, incredibly easy to make.
In fact, this recipe tastes closer to the commercial recipe than other copycat recipes probably because oat flour strongly resembles the flavor of the commercial milano cookie. Plus the oat flour allows the texture of the cookie to be snappy, just like a true milano. This recipe is incredible easy, and will put cookies on your table within the hour, just like my Girl Scout copycat samoa cookies , my fudge stripe cookies, and my Entenmann's copycat mini applesauce chocolate chip cookies.
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What Are Milano Cookies?
Milano cookies are thin, snappy, oval sandwich cookies filled with a chocolate fudge and sold in a white paper bag, the product of the US-based company, Pepperidge Farm. The milano cookie has had a strong following for decades. The manufacturer produces the cookie in 20 flavors, the news being pumpkin and candy cane. This copycat recipe can be adapted to create those flavors as well, without the preservatives and additives.
Ingredients
The ingredients are so few and familiar that you probably have them all in your pantry. Here is the full list:
1. Oat flour. This flour is naturally gluten-free if you buy a certified GF brand, and has more nutritional than all purpose. Still all purpose flour works here, just use less. Oat flour can be bought or made by blending rolled oats for a minute or two in a blender.
2. Butter. Use unsalted butter so you can control the salt. I used vegan butter sticks but traditional butter works as well. Use the stick at room temperature so when you press a finger into it, a slight indent is left.
3. Powdered sugar. Organic powdered sugar has tapioca instead of cornstarch and thus tastes better.
4. Aquafaba. The liquid from an unsalted chickpea can or box. Be sure your aquafaba is at room temperature. Open the box, drain the aquafaba into a jar and measuring out the amount you need for this recipe. Then refrigerate the jar for a week to use in other recipes.
5. Vanilla & Salt. Add 1-2 teaspoon of vanilla, and ⅛ teaspoon salt.
6. Chocolate chips. I used 60% cacao semi-sweet chips, and added a teaspoon of oil to thin.
See the recipe card at the bottom for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Steps to Make
For more detail, visit the complete and printable recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.
1. Gather ingredients: oat flour, powdered sugar, aquafaba, butter and vanilla.
2. Mix batter: Use a hand-mixer or spoon and mix the batter in a bowl or measuring cup.
3. Add batter to piping bag. Spoon the batter into a frosting bag or ziplock bag with the tip cut off revealing a 1-inch opening. Refrigerate the batter in the bag for just 30 minutes although you can store it up to 2 days if you want to bake later.
4. Pipe the batter. Pipe 3-inch lines, separated by 2 inches. Here is a template to download and slip under your baking sheet. Or if you have a steady hand, just pipe 3-inch long cookies.
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5. Bake the cookies at 350 F for 16-18 minutes or until edges are faintly brown.
6. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet.
7. Melt chocolate chips and a bit of coconut oil for 60 seconds in a microwave. Stir until all chips are melted. Spoon the melted chocolate down the center of the inside of a cookie and press another on top.
8. Let them set before jostling them much.
Substitutions & Variations
1.All purpose flour can be used instead of oat flour, just use only 1 cup.
2.White chocolate can be used instead of chocolate as a filling.
3.The batter can be flavored with extracts such as peppermint extract, almond extract, orange extract.
Expert Tips
1.This recipe makes 14 cookies, or 7 milano sandwich cookies.
2.Be sure your butter and aquafaba are at room temperature.
3.Fluff oat flour with a fork and spoon into a measuring cup, and level off. Do not scoop.
4.Here is Downloadable Milano Cookie Template I provide to create three inch long cookies.
5.Put the batter in a frosting bag without a formal tip. Just cut off the tip to revealing a 1-inch opening. Or use a large plastic ziplock bag.
Storage
Store the cookies in a sealed container with a paper towel inside the container to retain crispness. Keep the container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Freeze the cookies in a sealed container for up to three months. The same with the batter. Freeze it, let is come to room temperature when you are ready to bake.
FAQS
You can prepare the cookie batter up to 2 days in advance, just keep the batter refrigerated in the piping bag. You can pipe the batter directly from the refrigerator, no need to bring it to room temperature.
This oval-shaped butter cookie sandwiches a layer of chocolate. My copycat milano cookie is similar, only by butter cookie is made of oat flour, and my chocolate ganache is just melted chocolate.
The buttery crisp cookie combined with the fudgy chocolate ganache filling make this cookie irristiable. Imagine now that you can make them healthier and at home within half an hour.
Other Copycat Cookies
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
📖 Recipe
Milano Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Sandwich cookie
- 1 ¼ cup oat flour or 1 cup of all purpose
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
- ⅓ cup aquafaba liquid from a can of unsalted chickpeas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon salt more to taste
Filling
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil optional to thin.
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Instructions
Prep
- Gather ingredients
- Print my template, line a quarter cookie sheet with parchment paper and slide my paper template beneath so the lines show through the parchment.
- Preheat the oven at 350 F.
Make cookies
- Add ingredients to a bowl and blend up until creamy.1 ¼ cup oat flour, ¼ cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Spoon your batter into a frosting bag with the tip cut off. I cut the tip so the opening is about 1-inch and push it into a glass to make filling it easier.
- Pro-tip: Chill the dough 30 minutes in the refrigerator before baking. If you bake in two batches, leave unbaked batter in refrigerator before piping and baking. Keeping it chilled helps contain spreading and keep the nice oval shape.
- Pipe 3-inch cookies along the lines you see through the parchment paper.
- Slide the paper template out from beneath the parchment paper
- Bake 18 minutes or until edges are tinged with brown.
- Let the cookies cool in the pan. Transfer them to a cooling rack.
Make filling
- When the cookies are cooled, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave for 60 seconds. Stir the chocolate until all chips are melted. Spread the chocolate on one side of a cookies, and press another on top.1 cup chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- Let them set at room temperature.
Store the Cookies
- Store them at room temperature in a sealed container for 2-3 days or refrigerate for a week. They can also be frozen in an airtight container for three months.
Liz says
I would love to try this. Since going vegan have missed these!
Dee Dine says
Great news! I hear you!
Trish says
Hi! I was so excited for these cookies. I used applesauce and they did not look like yours. Not sure what went wrong but I’d like to try again. They’re burnt around the edges and did not puff up
Dee says
Hi Trish, as I mentioned to you in an IG message, did you chill the batter?
Cyndy says
Hi Dee,
I see in many of your recipes you use coconut. Like with these Milano cookies. We have a coconut allergy. Is there something that can be used instead? What is the purpose of coconut oil in foods? Is it a thickener or something different? Thank you
Dee says
Hi Cyndy, coconut oil is optional in the chocolate filling and is only there to thin it out. You can leave it off in a chocolate glaze. In some recipes you can use plain milk.
Venice says
Hi my boy is allergic to oats and he is gluten free. What can I sub to oat flour please? And what measurements? Cant wait to try this!!!
Dee Dine says
If you use gluten-free flour, use a bit less than oat flour because it's usually lighter so for this recipe, use 1 cup of GF flour
Tiffany says
Hi Dee! I can’t wait to make these!! Quick question though, is there another substitute for the aquafaba? Thank you in advance!!
Dee Dine says
Unsweetened apple sauce works but add a tablespoon of water or more to match the texture of my batter, and don't forget to chill
Derby says
It says they’re vegan but the recipe says butter??? Will a plant- based butter work? Thank you!
Dee Dine says
All my recipes are vegan so when I refer to butter, I always mean vegan butter.
DS says
Thank you!
Dee Dine says
You are welcome!