Everything but the kitchen sink

I've finally found a way of getting rid of my unwanted snacks and tidbits in the house. I've been wanting to try out this recipe for awhile but always chickened out at the last minute due to failures I've read about and the strange addition of potato chips in cookies.

Nonetheless, I gave it a go and the cookies turned out to be pretty good. They were crispy, not too sweet and had a pleasant caramel-ly aftertaste.

My version of Momofuku's Compost Cookies had chocolate-coated peanut brittle, rocky road, Coco Pops O's, ready salted potato chips, smokey capsicum flavoured grain crisps and pretzels.

Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookie
(Adapted from Momofuku for 2 and Amateur Gourmet)

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Tbsp Corn Syrup [Note: I left this out; not because I'm against corn syrup, I just didn't have it. The cookies came out fine, though may have had a nicer sheen with the syrup.]

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Large Eggs

3/4 + 2 Tbsp cups AP Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Kosher Salt

3/4 cups of your favorite baking ingredients

3/4 cups your favorite snack foods

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size.

When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix 45-60 sec just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30-45 sec until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated.

Using a 6oz ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan.

Wrap scooped cookie dough 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.

Heat the conventional oven to 400F. (350F in a convection oven)

When the oven reads 400F, arrange your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or silpat-lined sheetpan a minimum of 4″ apart in any direction.

Bake 9-11 min. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread.

At 9 min the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don’t match up and your cookies stills seem pale and doughy on the surface.

Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, cookies will keep fresh 5 days. In the freezer, cookies will keep fresh 1 month.

It's that time of the year again

Chinese New Year is celebrated in pretty much the same way as Christmas: a lot of festivities, a lot of family gatherings and a lot of food. This year on the week leading up to the start of the Chinese New Year period, I decided to make two batches of cookies using cornflakes. One is a traditional CNY cookie recipe, while the other is a less-traditional cookie recipe that is famously sold in Momofuku Milk Bar, a place I have been raving about.

Cornflakes ready for crushing

Two batches of cornflake cookies. The batch on the right had more cookies than the one on the left.

Cornflake and Raisin Cookies

(Recipe adapted from I Bake For You)

Ingredients:

• 175gm butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk powder
• 3-4 cups fairly crushed cornflakes (5 cups before crushing)
• 1/3 cup sultanas/raisins

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. In one mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, vanilla essence and milk powder. Mix.
4. In another bowl, sift flour and baking powder . Mix in crushed cornflakes and sultanas.
5. Add in egg/butter/sugar mixture, and mix until combined. (If mixture is too dry, you'll have to add more softened butter or even margarine.)
6. Roll into balls and place onto lined baking tray. Press down gently for a flat surface.
7. Bake for 12mins or until golden brown.
8. Cool on wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

Makes 49 cookies.

Copycat Momofuku Cornflake-Marshmallow-Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Recipe adapted from The Cookbook Chronicles)

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature (227gm)
• 1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (plus more for sprinkling)
• 3/4 cup oatmeal [I used rolled oats]
• 1 1/4 cup lightly crushed cornflakes (about 1 1/2 cup cornflakes before crushing)
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• about 3/4 cup mini marshmallows

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.
2. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and beat on low speed, just so the dry ingredients become incorporated. With a wooden spoon, mix in the oatmeal, crushed cornflakes, and chocolate chips.
3. (If you have time and would like the cookies to spread a little less, refrigerate the dough for two hours.)
4. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, scoop up and roll the dough into golf ball-sized spheres. (Six will fit comfortably on one pan–give them room to spread!) Lightly press down 4 mini marshmallows in the center of each ball of dough. [I mixed in the marshmallows with the dough] Sprinkle tops with a touch more salt. Repeat with the remaining dough.
5. Bake for 9-10 minutes. The cookies will still look soft in the middle when you take them out of the oven. Allow them to cool directly on the tray for a few minutes before moving them onto a platter.

Makes 20 cookies. [I made about palm-sized cookies]

Foodgawker finds

Photo summary of today's listings that caught my eye on Foodgawker. Clicking on the images direct you to the blog with recipes.

Broken butterfly wings

Sadly, yesterday was Natalie's last baking session here in New Zealand. She was leaving for Malaysia and we spent the day baking two batches of cupcakes. The first of which were Lemon Curd Butterfly Cupcakes.

Lemon Curd Butterfly Cupcakes

(Recipe adapted from Her Magazine - July 2009 - Issue 105)

Ingredients:

• 175g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup lemon curd
• 2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• 1/4 cup milk

Method:

1. Place the oven rack in the centre of the oven. Preheat the oven to 190C. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper cases.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon curd.
3. Fold in the flour alternatively with the milk.
4. Divide the mixture evenly among the paper cases.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden.
6. Transfer to a cake rack to cool.
7. Cut a small disc from the centre of each cupcake and cut the disc in half. Fill the cavity with sweetened whipped cream (we used marshmallow creme) and place two halved discs on top to resemble butterfly wings. Decorate with tiny dollops of lemon curd and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Unfortunately, the cupcakes turned out to be too crumbly for us to cut out proper butterfly wings. We had also ran out of lemon curd so we used marshmallow creme and icing sugar to decorate.

Gooey mess

Thanks to a new store Natalie discovered that sells US brands, I no longer need to move to America just to satisfy my cravings for all things sugary and trans-fatty. Because at one point, I was considering moving there just to get my daily supply of pop tarts. One thing I've always wanted to try was marshmallow creme. Natalie bought a whole jar and we decided to use it for baking.

Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme: Strong smell of egg white but super creamy, sweet and sticky

The marshmallow creme became a topping to Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes as we wanted something quick and easy (since we were still in the middle of study break).

The topping overflowed, probably because we added too much milk to the marshmallow creme frosting. The frosting was also too liquid so we couldn't pipe it on top of the cupcakes. Instead, we just ladelled tablespoonfuls on top.

Messy but oh so delicious

Something that Nat and I should've tried was a Fluffernutter; that is, a sandwich with marshmallow creme and peanut butter :).