This is a cookie that I’ve been meaning to make forever and a day. Before we moved to Buenos Aires, we lived in the East Village and before it got all cool and fancy, Momofuku Ssäm Bar was our go-to take spot for Korean burritos. You see, it actually was a Ssäm Bar, as in a place where you could just wander in and order a Korean version of a burrito, but like, a ridiculous one with marinated tofu or Berkshire pork, edamame, kimchi…insanely good. And then, poof! It became the hottest restaurant in town and buh-bye burritos.
But I tried not to hold a grudge because next door to Ssäm Bar was Milk Bar, where take-out of the dessert variety was (and is) still in full swing. Crazy soft-serve ice cream with flavors like cereal milk and olive oil, crack pie (use your imagination) and the infamous star of this post.
The compost cookie is, as the name suggests, a cookie with all kinds of crazy stuff in it (in fact, the original has coffee grounds). What’s great is that it’s up to you to decide what goes in. But let me give you a tip: you need something salty. It can be potato chips, it can be pretzels (both are divine), but you need that saltiness to counterbalance the sweetness of the cookie itself and the other required stuff, like namely, chocolate. It is kind of a revelation as cookies go. It’s chewy, it’s crunchy, it’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s all things that are good and right in this world.
And it’s always nice to have a helper bring along his tools for smashing stuff up.
But I still have yet to make my dream version. I really must do one with the dark chocolate-covered pretzels from Trader Joe’s. Maybe throw in some corn flakes and, of course, bitter chocolate chunks. Am I nutty for thinking about dark chocolate-covered espresso beans? Oh, I’m onto something. This is fun. What would you add?
Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookies
recipe by Christina Tosi
1 cup/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chunks or chips
1 1/2 cups savory/salty snacks, crushed (chips, pretzels, chocolate-covered pretzels, corn flakes)
Cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for two to three minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Mix in eggs and vanilla. This part is important. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 10 minutes. Yeah, it’s a long time. But it helps the sugar to dissolve and it makes the mixture super-light and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until just incorporated.
Stir in chocolate chips, then add the snacks. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop portions onto a Silpat- or parchment-lined cookie sheet, Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to a week (as if). Preheat the oven to 400ºF/204ºC shortly before the hour is up. Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes. They’re done when the edges are brown and the top is just starting to brown.
