Ritz Cookies

The other day, I saw that Momofuku Milk Bar put out a Ritz Cookie. It sounded amazing! Buttery Ritz in cookie form with an explosion of salty, sweet, and chewy. Too bad I couldn't get my hands on them, and the recipe is not in the cookbook. So I decided to try to create them on my own - even though I don't really know what the real thing tastes like. Oh well, it'll be fun.

Just did a quick search and apparently the Ritz cookie came out 2 year ago. I am a bit slow.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Ritz Cookies

Makes 18 large cookies

Inspired from Milk Bar.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup bread flour

1 1/2 cup Ritz crumbs - from 40 crackers (see directions below)

1/4 cup milk powder

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 baking soda

Directions

1. Make Ritz crumb by pulsing the crackers in a blender or food processor until fine and crumbly. Set aside.

2.  Beat butter and both sugars in a bowl until fluffy, 3 minutes.

3. Add egg and beat for 4 minutes.

4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add vanilla, and beat to combine.

5. In a separate bowl, mix flour, Ritz crumb, milk powder, baking powder and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture and mix slowly just until combined.

5. Portion dough with an ice cream scoop onto a baking sheet. Cover with foil and let marinate in the fridge for 2-3 days.

To bake

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

7. Place 4 on a baking sheet and press down to slightly flatten. Bake for 14 minutes until the edges are golden.

8. Let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

 

Before baking.

After baking.

Verdict: These cookies turned out buttery, rich, and chewy! They were delicious and I'll definitely be making them again - maybe with some larger chunks of Ritz for a variation in texture.

Kitchen Sink Cookies

I’m moving closer to work!  As I’m in the process of packing, I’m purging all the things I don’t need, which feels phenomenal!  In the kitchen, I have bits of left over baking ingredients that I thought I’d use up.  Result: Kitchen Sink Cookies!  A mash-up of leftovers.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Inspired and adapted from Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook. 

Makes 17.

Toasted Coconut Make ahead

Toast ¾ cup of shredded coconut by placing on a baking sheet and baking in oven at 350 degrees until golden.  Take the sheet out after the top is golden, stir to expose un-toasted bits, and place back in the oven.  Keep an eye on it because it will brown quickly.

Pretzel Crunch Make ahead

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups coarsely chopped pretzels

¼ cup milk powder

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup melted salted butter

Directions

1.  Heat oven to 275 degrees F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon baking mat.

2.  In a medium bowl, mix chopped pretzels, milk powder and sugar.

3.  Add melted butter and toss to coat.

4.  Spread onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until toasted.  The sugar will turn golden and caramelize.

5.  Cool before adding to cookie batter.

Left: Toasted coconut; Right: Pretzel crunch

Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

½ cup salted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

½  egg

½ teaspoon vanilla syrup or ¼ teaspoon extract

¾ cup bread flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon coffee grounds (not instant, and not used coffee grounds!)

¾ cup butterscotch chips

¼ cup chocolate chips

Toasted coconut from above recipe

Pretzel crunch from above recipe

Directions

1.  In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars with a beater on medium high for 2-3  minutes.

2.  Add egg and vanilla, and beat for 7-8 minutes. 

3.  Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low just until dough comes together (1 minute).

4.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Fold in with a spatula.

5.  Scoop dough using an “average sized” ice cream scoop ¾ full and place on a baking sheet.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Do not bake un-chilled dough.

To bake:

6.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

7.  Place cookie dough rounds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat, 4 inches apart.

8.  Bake for 10-11 minutes.  Cool on baking sheet before removing to a rack.

Bake after chilling in the fridge.

Verdict: These cookies were fantastic!  I loved the crunchy and caramelized components in the buttery cookie.  The coffee grounds give it an interesting flavor, too!  I brought them in to work and they were gone by lunchtime!

Funfetti Birthday Cupcakes

It was my birthday and I wanted to bring cupcakes to work for my co-workers – reminiscent of those grade school days when your mom would bake cupcakes for the whole class on your birthday.  There’s a birthday layer cake recipe in the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook that I’ve been wanting to make (*surprise!) and I thought this would be a good opportunity.  What makes this a birthday recipe is the rainbow sprinkles and the vanilla theme (btw, the recipe calls for clear vanilla extract to keep the cake white, but you can use regular extract if you don’t mind the colour).  The cake recipe comprises 4 mini recipes: the cake, the cake soak, the frosting, and the cake crumb.  I took these components, adapted them a bit, and made cupcakes instead of a cake.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Funfetti Birthday Cupcakes

Makes about 20 cupcakes

Birthday Cake Crumb (Make this first, or even a few days before putting the cake together)

Ingredients

¼ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

¼ + 2 Tablespoon cake flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon rainbow sprinkles

3 Tablespoon oil

½ Tablespoon clear vanilla extract

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2.       Mix sugars, flour, baking powder, salt and sprinkles in a bowl.

3.       Add oil and vanilla and mix until there are small clusters.

4.       Spread the clusters on a lined baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Cool before using.

Before baking.

After baking.

Funfetti Cupcakes

Ingredients

¼ + 1/3 cup salted butter at room temperature (original recipe calls for 1/3 cup shortening instead)

1 ¼ cup sugar

3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar

3 eggs

½ cup buttermilk

1/3 cup oil

2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract (regular extract is fine, but will darken the colour of the cupcakes)

2 cups cake flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup  + 2 Tablespoon rainbow sprinkles

Direction

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.       Beat butter and sugars in a bowl with a hand-held or stand mixer until fluffy (2-3 minutes).

3.       Add eggs and mix for 2-3 minutes.

4.       With the mixer on low, stream buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  Increase sped to medium-high for 5 minutes.  The mixture should be doubled in volume and homogenous (no streaks of fat).

5.       On low speed, add cake flour, baking powder, and ¼ cup of sprinkles until it comes together (60 seconds max).

6.       Scoop into cupcake pans, and sprinkle the remaining sprinkles on each cupcake.  Bake in oven and check for doneness at 15 minutes with a toothpick.  If it doesn’t come out clean, bake for an extra minute or two.  Cool completely before frosting.

Before baking.

After baking.

Frosting

Ingredients

½ cup butter (original recipe calls for ¼ cup of shortening and ¼ cup butter)

2 oz/55 g cream cheese

1 Tablespoon glucose (or 2 teaspoons corn syrup)

1 Tablespoon corn syrup

1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract

1 ½ cups icing sugar

Pinch of baking powder

Pinch of citric acid (I used a squeeze of lemon juice instead)

Directions

1.       Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.

2.       With the mixer on low, stream glucose, corn syrup, and vanilla.  Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 2-3 minutes until silky.

3.       Mix in icing sugar, baking powder, and citric acid, and beat until smooth.

Vanilla soak

Mix ¼ cup milk and 1 teaspoon of clear vanilla extract in a small bowl.

Cupcake Assembly

1.       With a pastry brush, apply the Vanilla Soak to the cupcakes.

2.       Pipe frosting (I used Ateco tip 847), and sprinkle with Birthday Cake Crumb.

3.       Store in the refrigerator and leave out for 30 minutes before serving.

Verdict:  The Milk Bar recipe does it again! My colleagues were super happy to receive cupcakes and I was happy to celebrate my birthday by sharing these sweet and very vanilla-y mouthfuls of deliciousness! And, I found my FAVORITE frosting.  This frosting is sooooo good! I NEVER eat frosting out of the bowl, but I was spooning this stuff into my mouth.  I wouldn’t call this a cream cheese frosting, because there is very little cream cheese, but it’s just enough to give the frosting an interesting flavor element.  I’ll definitely be using this recipe again.

Btw, best birthday ever!!!

Cookies and Cream Cookies

My buddy’s girlfriend sent me an early birthday present!  She sent me the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook!  I screamed because as I’ve stated here. I’ve been wanting this book since it came out.  Well, I’m completely in love with this cookbook.  I’m in the process of reading it cover to cover.  I sleep with it in my bed, and I don’t want to part with it when I go to work in the morning.  While at work, I often think about how I can’t wait to get home to my book.  Did I say I’m in love with it?  Every recipe blows my mind with its creativity and techniques.  Needless to say, I’ll be baking and posting from this book often, once I’ve finished reading it.  In the meantime, I wanted to test out two of the techniques from the book in a different recipe: 1) creaming the butter and sugar for 10 minutes, and 2) adding “the crunch”.  Hence, these Cookies and Cream Cookies.  And yes, clearly I’m going through a cookies and cream phase.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Cookies and Cream Cookies

Adapted from here.

Inspired by Momofuku Milk Bar.

Makes 20-25 cookies depending on the size of your ice cream scoop.

Chocolate Crunch Recipe

Ingredients

1 ¾ cup chocolate wafers (about 20 wafers - those dark chocolate cookies that are basically the cookie part of Oreos.)

1 Tablespoon sugar

¼ cup milk powder

6 Tablespoon of butter, melted

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

2.       In a large bowl, crush chocolate wafers into small chunks using your hands.

3.       Add sugar and milk powder and toss to combine.

4.       Add melted butter and toss to coat the chunks.

5.       Lay on baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.

6.       Bake for 15 minutes, or until there’s some browning on the underside.

7.       Cool completely before adding to dough.

Crushed chocolate wafers.

Chocolate crunch after baking.

Cookie recipe

Ingredients

½ cup salted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1 teaspoons vanilla syrup (or 1 teaspoon extract)

1 ½ cups flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 Hershey’s Cookies n' Cream chocolate bar, chopped

Chocolate Crunch (from above recipe)

Directions

1.       Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a bowl and set aside.

2.       In a large bowl (or in a standalone mixer), cream butter for 2 minutes.

3.       Add brown sugar and beat on medium for 8 minutes.

4.       Add cream cheese and beat until thoroughly incorporated.

5.       Add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

6.       Add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.

7.       Stir in chocolate bar chunks and Chocolate Crunch.

8.       Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes (and not any longer) to make the dough easier to work with.  If you are baking it the next day, bring the dough back up to near room temperature.  Do not bake cold dough – it will not bake properly.

9.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

10.   Scoop dough with ice cream scoop so that it’s flush (not heaping).  Place on a parchment paper or silicone mat lined cookie sheet.

11.   Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the edges are brown and the top is showing slight browning.

12.   Place Cookies n' Cream Kisses on each cookie. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet before moving to cooling rack.

*It’s OK if they look a bit underdone when you first take it out of the oven as long as there’s some resistance when you press the Kisses onto them.  The cookies will finish cooking on the sheet.

*If you can’t find (or don’t want to use) chocolate wafers and make the Chocolate Crunch, you can substitute with chopped Oreos.  However, I would leave out the Hershey’s Cookies n' Cream chocolate bar as it might be too much.

Chopped Hershey's Cookies n' Cream chocolate bar.

Dough ready to be scooped.

Before baking.

After baking.

The "Kisses" melt from the heat of the cookies.

Verdict: I brought these cookies for my colleagues and my girlfriend Joanne and got rave reviews from both.  They are soft, but with crunch from the Chocolate Crunch.  What I like about these cookies is that the “cream” really comes out, probably from the milk powder and the Hershey’s Cookies n' Cream chocolate bar.  Joanne said that they may be the best cookies I’ve every baked! Hmm, challenge accepted, Joanne!!  By the way, best birthday gift ever!  Thanks Yoko!

Momofuku’s Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies - adapted

(one of) The main reason I want to visit New York is to eat at Momofuku’s Milk Bar.  They’re desserts look like they’re out of this world creative and awesome!  Crack pie, cereal milk soft serve, cinnamon bun pie?!!!  Needless to say that I super want the cook book.  In the meantime, I’ve found some of their recipes online, which I'm excited to try out.  First on the list is the Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookie.  This cookie, as with all their recipes, is a multi-step, time consuming process.  I’ve altered the recipe based on the comments made by others who have made it – reduced the sugar and butter and used chocolate chunks instead of chips.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Cornflake Chocolate Chunk Marshmallow Cookies

Adapted from here.

Makes 20.

Make Cornflake Crunch first

Ingredients

3 cups cornflakes

¼ cup milk powder

2 Tablespoon sugar

¼ cup melted salted butter

Directions

1.       Heat oven to 275 degrees F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon baking mat.

2.       In a medium bowl, crush cornflake to large crumbs.

3.       Add milk powder and sugar and mix.

4.       Add melted butter and toss to coat.

5.       Spread onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until toasted.

6.       Cool before adding to cookie batter.

Cornflake crunch after baking.

Cookie recipe

Ingredients

½ cup room temperature salted butter

¾ cup sugar

1/3 + 2 Tablespoons tightly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla syrup or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups bread flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

3 cups Cornflake Crunch

2/3 cup dark chocolate chunks

1 ¼ cup mini marshmallows

Directions

1.       In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars with a beater on medium high for 2-3 minutes.

2.       Add egg and vanilla, and beat for 7-8 minutes.

3.       Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low just until dough comes together (1 minute).

4.       Add cornflakes and chocolate chunks and mix just until incorporated (30 seconds).

5.       Mix in marshmallow and mix just until incorporated (30 seconds).  Dough may be crumbly.

6.       Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerator for 24 hours.

Cornflake and chocolate.

Batter ready for the fridge.

To bake:

7.       Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line baking sheet with parchment or baking mat.

8.       Pack dough into a medium/large ice cream scoop.  Place on baking sheet 4 inches apart.  If the dough crumbles, gather it into a pile (as it bakes, the batter will incorporate the crumbs).

9.       Bake for 13 minutes.  Cool on baking sheet before moving to a rack. Keep dough in refrigerator between bakes.  Do not bake room temperature cookie dough.

Before baking.

After baking.

Verdict: These cookies were a hit with everyone, old and young!  They were crunchy and chewy, sweet and salty.  My friend’s picky 3-year old said that they were so yummy!  It was really fun to put all that energy into a cookie and have them turn out great.  Next step – go to New York and try the original!