Chocolate Lardo Cookies and Ice Milk

METHOD:

For the Lardo Cookies:
Pre-heat a convection oven to 325°F. In a stand mixer, cream together the dark brown sugar, white sugar, butter, lard, baking soda, and fleur de sel. Once the mixture is uniform and light in color, add the eggs, one by one, until thoroughly incorporated. Next, add the vanilla extract and vinegar. Add half the flour and mix until almost completely incorporated. Add the remaining half, and once the new addition of flour has become half incorporated, add the chocolate and mix until just barely uniform. Chill the dough in the refrigerator until firm. Using a #50 (5- to 8-ounce) disher, scoop out spheres of dough and place on a silicone baking mat-lined sheet tray with 3-inches between the spheres. Bake for 7 minutes, rotating half-way through. The edges should be uniformly browned and the top of the cookie will look slightly undercooked. Transfer to a cooling rack to finish setting.

For the Lardo Buttercream:
In a mixing bowl, whip the lard until light and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract and fold together until thoroughly incorporated. Lastly, add in the fleur de sel and shaved lardo until just bound together. Once the cookies have cooled, pipe the Lardo Buttercream between 2 Lardo Cookies and sandwich them together.

For the Mint Ice Milk:
In a saucepot, bring the sugar, stabilizer, milk powder, inverted sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and a third of the whole milk to a boil. Boil while stirring constantly for approximately 6 minutes. Pour the hot mixture into the remaining milk and heavy cream, stirring to incorporate. Chill over an ice bath. Once the mixture has chilled, churn in a batch freezer until set, then fold in the mint leaves.

To Assemble and Serve:
Serve assembled cookies with chilled milk.