Belly up to the Momofuku Milk Bar for Compost Cookies

We celebrated Easter with a gourmet picnic in the park, with close friends and family.  As usual, all of our dishes rocked... especially during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake!

Mom offered to bring dessert and jumped on the Momofuku Milk Bar bandwagon, taking me along for the ride assisting in the preparation and baking, and eating.  Momofuku Milk Bar is located in New York, and is home to pastry chef Christina Tosi's $44 Crack Pie and Compost Cookies.  I became addicted to the Crack Pie when Carmen made two for her Time Change Party.  Now, I'm having a heck of time hiding the last of our Compost Cookies from John, which I promised to Pammy.

What's not to like about sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy, and gooey cookies, overloaded with all your favorite baking ingredients and snack foods?  You can mix up your favorites, experiment with new combinations, and never end up with the same batch of cookies.

It appears the Compost Cookie recipe first appeared on the Live with Regis and Kelly web site, and has now made its way to various blogs, including The Amateur Gourmet, Momofuku for 2, and  La Fuji Mama.  I was too busy Easter morning to photograph step by step shots, but these bloggers did an outstanding job.

Incidentally, Compost Cookie is a registered trademark for "bakery products, namely, sweet bakery goods."  Try to keep that in your head when you eat these, rather than envisioning "a mixture of decaying organic matter, as from leaves and manure, used to improve soil structure and provide nutrients."  Just a little tidbit from your favorite trademark attorney!

Here are the raw cookies after the requisite refrigeration.  You MUST allow much more space between the cookies when baking or you will end up with one gigantic mess!  Each of the "compost" balls pictured below weighed 1 3/4 oz.  They manured matured into 5-inch cookies during baking.  I don't recommend making these any larger.

 

Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookies

Makes about 21 2-ounce cookies

8 ounces (1 cup) butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups Your favorite baking ingredients! (chopped chocolate, mini chocolate chips, Raisinettes, Rolos, Cocoa Krispies, etc.)
1 1/2 cups Your favorite snack foods (potato chips, pretzels, goldfish crackers, etc.)

*Momofuku Milk Bar uses pretzels, potato chips, coffee, oats, butterscotch chips and chocolate chips.  We used yogurt-covered pretzels, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, espresso powder, Cadbury Caramel Eggs, Reese's Peanut Butter cups, and graham cracker crumbs.

1. In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and corn syrup on medium high speed for 2 – 3 minutes until the mixture is fluffy and pale yellow in color. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.

2. On low speed, add the eggs and vanilla and mix until they are incorporated. then increase the speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During the 10 minutes, the sugar granules will fully dissolve and the mixture will become a pale cream color and double in size.

3. After the 10 minutes, lower the speed to low and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix for 45 – 6o seconds—just until your dough comes together and the dry ingredients have become incorporated. DO NOT overmix the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

4. Continuing on the low speed, add the mix of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30 – 45 seconds until they are evenly mixed into the dough. Then finally, add your favorite snack foods last, mixing on low until they are just incorporated.

5. Use a 6-ounce ice cream scoop to scoop out balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. When you have scooped out all of the dough, wrap the baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour (or up to 1 week). DO NOT bake your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.

6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahreneheit. When the oven has come to temperature, arrange the chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet 4-inches apart. Bake the cookies for 9 – 11 minutes. Check the cookies at 9 minutes. They should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. If not (if they seem pale and dough on the surface), leave them in the oven for the additional 2 minutes. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheet before transferring them to a plate or airtight container for storage.

* The cookies will keep fresh at room temperature for 5 days, or in the freezer for 1 month.

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As you can see, there are only 7 cookies on this baking sheet and they still spread out and touched.  They also flattened quite a bit.  Most pictured in various blogs are flat.  Some say it depends on the amount of flour and weighing the flour to make sure the quantity is accurate, but it also must depend on the ingredients you choose, and how much you chop them.  Be sure to chill the dough and make sure your oven is at the correct temperature.

Our batch yielded about 21 large cookies.

Better hurry over, Pammy, for that last one!  But if you don't make it in time, we also have a few of mom's Superfudge Brownies with Reese's Peanut-Butter Cups.  Mom definitely had a sweet-tooth this weekend!

You can find this recipe from Ellie at Almost Boudain. 

ATTENTION:  There's a Newf in My Soup! is attending CampBlogAway next month and I'm trying to win a private room and REAL full-size bed at camp, rather than sleeping in bunk in a bunkroom!  There's a few more days left for you to visit my post to read about my gourmet take on camp food, and why I really NEED that private room.  All you need to do is click on the link to CampBlogAway.  That's it!  Thank you for helping me win.  Click here to go to gourmet camp food post!  There are still a few spaces available at Camp, if you're so inclined.