Vegan Milanos

My friend Jana made these cookies awhile ago and asked my opinion on them. I had been meaning to try the recipe for some time but never got around to it.
When Peter and I were staying with my parents I had a chance to make them.
They are super yummy and not so bad for you which makes them even better.
I of course ate most of them because Peter doesn't eat sweets and my dad prefers Oreos (which I must say are a huge weak spot for me).
I just love Pepperidge Farm's Milanos. These come close and you can do so many variations on them as well.
Add some peppermint extract, or colored sprinkles on the outside for a twist.
I recommend using a cookie cutter instead of shaping them with your hands. I like a little more uniformity to my cookie.
The original recipe called for 1 tsp of finely grated orange zest. I'm not a big zest fan but go for it if you like it.
I also added some sprinkled sugar over the tops before baking because you can never have too much sugar.

VEGAN MILANOS
makes about 12 cookies depending on what size you cut them

You will need:

1/3 cup rice milk (or soy)
3/4 cup sugar + plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (or use chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease 2 large cookie sheets.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together milk, sugar, oil, vanilla.
Add half of the flour, along with the cornstarch, baking powder and salt; mix well.
Be sure to whisk as best you can before switching to a spatula. This will prevent your dough from becoming to flaky.
Add the remaining flour and mix until you have a soft, pliable dough.
Depending on how firm your dough or how cold it is in your kitchen you may want to chill the dough before rolling it out.
Make sure your hands are very clean and dry, and dust them with flour and flour your work surface so that you can roll out the dough without it sticking
Take a chunk of dough and roll it out to about 1/4" thick.
Cut and place on the cookie sheet about 1" apart, they don't spread too much.
Continue with the rest of the dough until you have an even amount of cookies.
Sprinkle with extra sugar.
Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until tops are firm and edges are ever so slightly browned.
Remove from oven and let rest for 2 minutes.
Transfer to a cooling rack.
In the meantime, melt your chocolate.
(place chocolate in a bowl and heat in the microwave in 15-30 seconds increments until just melted, stirring after each time. Be careful not to burn your chocolate)
Take a small spoon and drop a little chocolate onto the center of one of the cookies.
(I poured my chocolate into a Ziploc bag and cut a hole at one corner so that I could pipe the chocolate out into a small circle)
Place another cookie onto, pressing just enough to stick but not too hard so that the chocolate doesn't squirt out the sides.
Continue until you have all the cookies sandwiched.
Remove from the fridge and let them come to room temp before serving.
Enjoy!
xoxoxo
Place in the fridge until the chocolate is firm.