Ever been to Momofuku Milk Bar? Well I have. And while I didn’t like the coffee milk, I loved the different kinds of cookies they offered! My favorite? The corn cookie…but I couldn’t find that recipe. So these will have to do.
These compost cookies, which were featured on Regis and Kelly, are awesome. You cream the butter and sugar together for TEN minutes. That’s right, ten whole minutes, until the sugar dissolves into the butter and the entire mixture becomes white and thin. It makes for an awesome texture. And very spready and thin cookies (which is why it’s important to cool them before baking. Don’t skip that step). What a creative idea! The best part is that you can put whatever you have on hand into the batter to make them your own! I, of course, don’t have much in the way of junk food in my pantry. Candies? Nope. Chips? Nope. Pretzels? Nope! So I put an assortment of nuts and chocolate, which a handful of cereal added in. They turned out pretty awesome regardless of the fact that I don’t have snacks.
Of course I had to make this recipe a little bit healthier than posted. So I swapped some of the flour for whole wheat and got rid of the corn syrup – I used brown rice syrup instead. You don’t have to do these same substitutions, just use what you have on hand. That’s the beauty of a compost cookie, anyway.
Oh, and Zeke said these were the best cookies he’s had in a long time. And he ate the last of the batch, so it hardly had any of the add-ins in it. I’m going to make them pareve next time I want to impress my shabbat or holiday hosts.
Compost Cookies, adapted from Momofufu Milk Bar:
Makes about 25 cookies
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown)
- 1 tablespoon brown rice syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups of your favorite baking ingredients + 1 1/2 cups your favorite snack foods (that’s 3 cups total of add-ins. I used 1/2 cup pistachios, 1/2 cup slivered almonds, 1/2 cup peanuts, 1/2 cup walnuts, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup Cinnamon Life cereal. Be creative here if you can – some people put pretzels, potato chips, Oreos, Doritos, candy bars, etc. I made mine nutty and delicious – I like to think they’re more healthy because of it.)
Directions:
1. Add sugars, brown rice syrup, and butter to the bowl of your stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium for about 2-3 minutes, until combined and creamy.
2. Add eggs and vanilla and scrape down the bowl.
3. Turn the mixer up to medium high and mix for 10 minutes. Set a timer. The batter will become thin, silky, and light.
4. While this is mixing, combine the dry ingredients and prepare your add-ins.
5. Turn off the mixer and add the dry ingredients, mix on low for about a minute (or less) until just combined.
6. Fold in the add-ins with a rubber spatula.
7. Scoop the batter onto parchment lined baking sheets, making sure to leave about 2-inches of space between the cookies. These will SPREAD a lot while baking.
8. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour (but will keep in the fridge for a week and the freezer even longer).
9. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
10. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies spread and the tops are browned.
11. Cool completely before removing from baking sheet.
Oh, and the last cookie without lots of add-ins definitely spread too much. So make sure you mix well and really have stuff in that batter, or else you’ll end up with one giant cookie.
