I finally got to the last cookie recipe in Momofuku Milk Bar that I had yet to try, the "Cornflake-Chocolate Chip-Marshmallow Cookie." The name pretty much says it all. (The other cookies in the cookbook are blueberry and cream, chocolate-chocolate, compost, confetti, corn, and peanut butter.)
To make these cookies, you first have to make a batch of Cornflake crunch, which is simply Cornflakes mixed together with milk powder, sugar, salt, and melted butter until they form clusters, which you toast in the oven. This is not my first time making Cornflake crunch, as it's also a garnish for Christina Tosi's "Cereal-Milk Panna Cotta With Caramelized Corn Flake Crunch," which I made three years ago after the recipe was published in the New York Times.
After you have your Cornflake crunch ready, the rest of the recipe follows the standard Momofuku Milk Bar cookie method. You cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 2-3 minutes, add an egg and vanilla and cream for an additional 7-8 minutes, and the stir in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt), Cornflake crunch, miniature chocolate chips, and miniature marshmallows. You scoop out the dough and refrigerate it for at least an hour before baking the cookies.
When I baked my first tray of cookies, I was completely horrified at what I pulled out of the oven. There were blobs of dark brown yuck seeping out of the edge of most of the cookies. It looked like an unsalvageable mess. I quickly realized that the brown puddles were liquified and burnt marshmallows. Thankfully, I also discovered that if I worked quickly while the cookies were still hot, I could use a stiff plastic spatula to scrape the puddles away from the cookies, such that the end product looked fine. In the photo below, you can see some golden remnants of hardened melted marshmallow along the left and bottom edges of the cookie.
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These cookies were not what I expected at all. I thought that the marshmallows would be gooey and soft, in part because the photo in the cookbook shows a cookie being pulled apart, and threads of gooey marshmallow are clearly visible between the halves (the photo in the cookbook is the same one that accompanies the online version of the recipe). However, all of the marshmallows in my cookies melted into bits of hard caramel. The caramel was the most marvelous surprise, and along with the Cornflake crunch, there was wonderful texture in every bite. The rest of the cookie was basically just a chocolate chip cookie -- but the Cornflake crunch and marshmallows made it so much more than that.
As it turned out, my husband Tom was on a business trip in New York City when I made these cookies, so I asked him to go to Momofuku Milk Bar to pick up a real Cornflake-Chocolate Chip-Marshmallow Cookie for comparison purposes. Tom went above and beyond, going to the store twice after they were out of Cornflake cookies during his first visit. Below is a picture of the two cookies side my side. Mine is on the left, and the store-bought version is on the right.
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The cookies don't look much alike. Mine is paler than the real thing, although I purposely took my cookies out of the oven just as they were beginning to brown so that I could minimize the amount of burnt marshmallow seepage. Also, the top surface of my cookie was ragged and uneven, while the one from the store was quite smooth. However my version does look almost exactly like cookie pictured in the cookbook, so I think I got it right .
Both Tom and I preferred the homemade cookie. The base homemade cookie was more crisp, while the store-bought cookie had a softer, cakier, texture. The store-bought cookie could bend without breaking, but if you try to bend the homemade cookie, a piece will snap off. Also, the homemade version seemed to have more texture from the mix-ins, namely the caramel bits from the melted marshmallow. I should note that the store-bought version didn't have any gooey marshmallow; in fact I couldn't see or taste any marshmallow in the store-bought version at all.
I wish I could figure out how to avoid the problem with the melted burnt marshmallow during baking, but aside from that hiccup, this is a darn tasty cookie; it's definitely one of my favorites from Momofuku Milk Bar.
Recipe: "Cornflake-Chocolate Chip-Marshmallow Cookies," from Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi, recipe available here at dailycandy.com.
Previous Posts:
To make these cookies, you first have to make a batch of Cornflake crunch, which is simply Cornflakes mixed together with milk powder, sugar, salt, and melted butter until they form clusters, which you toast in the oven. This is not my first time making Cornflake crunch, as it's also a garnish for Christina Tosi's "Cereal-Milk Panna Cotta With Caramelized Corn Flake Crunch," which I made three years ago after the recipe was published in the New York Times.
After you have your Cornflake crunch ready, the rest of the recipe follows the standard Momofuku Milk Bar cookie method. You cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 2-3 minutes, add an egg and vanilla and cream for an additional 7-8 minutes, and the stir in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt), Cornflake crunch, miniature chocolate chips, and miniature marshmallows. You scoop out the dough and refrigerate it for at least an hour before baking the cookies.
When I baked my first tray of cookies, I was completely horrified at what I pulled out of the oven. There were blobs of dark brown yuck seeping out of the edge of most of the cookies. It looked like an unsalvageable mess. I quickly realized that the brown puddles were liquified and burnt marshmallows. Thankfully, I also discovered that if I worked quickly while the cookies were still hot, I could use a stiff plastic spatula to scrape the puddles away from the cookies, such that the end product looked fine. In the photo below, you can see some golden remnants of hardened melted marshmallow along the left and bottom edges of the cookie.
.JPG)
As it turned out, my husband Tom was on a business trip in New York City when I made these cookies, so I asked him to go to Momofuku Milk Bar to pick up a real Cornflake-Chocolate Chip-Marshmallow Cookie for comparison purposes. Tom went above and beyond, going to the store twice after they were out of Cornflake cookies during his first visit. Below is a picture of the two cookies side my side. Mine is on the left, and the store-bought version is on the right.
.JPG)
Both Tom and I preferred the homemade cookie. The base homemade cookie was more crisp, while the store-bought cookie had a softer, cakier, texture. The store-bought cookie could bend without breaking, but if you try to bend the homemade cookie, a piece will snap off. Also, the homemade version seemed to have more texture from the mix-ins, namely the caramel bits from the melted marshmallow. I should note that the store-bought version didn't have any gooey marshmallow; in fact I couldn't see or taste any marshmallow in the store-bought version at all.
I wish I could figure out how to avoid the problem with the melted burnt marshmallow during baking, but aside from that hiccup, this is a darn tasty cookie; it's definitely one of my favorites from Momofuku Milk Bar.
Recipe: "Cornflake-Chocolate Chip-Marshmallow Cookies," from Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi, recipe available here at dailycandy.com.
Previous Posts:
- "Vegetarian Quiche and Not-So-Vegetarian Panna Cotta," April 15, 2009.
- "Cookies and Milk Reinvented" Blueberry and Cream Cookies," March 28, 2012.
- "Magic Doesn't Just Bake Itself In an Oven: Chocolate-Chocolate Cookies," February 3, 2012.
- "They're Magically Delicious!: Compost Cookies 3.0," March 23, 2012.
- "Imitation Is the Clearest Form of Flattery: Confetti Cookies," April 24, 2012.
- "Accept No Substitutes: Corn Cookies," March 20, 2012.
- "A Little Brittle Goes a Long Way: Peanut Butter Cookies," February 16, 2012.
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