baked by clara: momofuku milk bar

I love desserts. I mean, in a perfect world, every single meal of mine would be cake. Or cookies. Or ice cream. Or brownies. I'm not picky.

Well, I am picky in the sense that 99% of the sweets I'm going to eat have to be homemade. By me. With high quality ingredients. But other than that, I'm not picky.

Over the summer, when I lived with Christian, we would sometimes go to the bookstore for fun. I just liked to browse. He just liked to put up with me.

There I saw this cool looking cookbook. It's dark cover and neon light writing drew me in. Looking through its strange creative recipes made me have to have it. I bought it on Amazon ($15 less than the store!) and started to bake through it.

Momofuku Milk Bar
Here are two of my favorite cookie recipes from the book: corn cookies (seriously) and cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookies.

Unfortunately, many of the recipes in the book were either poorly written or poorly scaled down from their normal bakery-sized batches. All over the internet, people have trouble making their cookies. They spread out too much, look nothing like the pictures, have an off texture, etc. The cornflakechocolatediabetes cookie is definitely hard to make - they always come out paper thin. But they are delicious!

First off, here are the corn cookies.

I know it sounds kinda weird. Corn in dessert? But it's delicious. Don't knock it til you try it!

Momofuku Milk Bar Corn Cookies

makes about two dozen 2oz cookies

2 sticks softened butter (225g) (to ensure they don't spread too thin, I use 1 or 2 tbsp less than this)

1 1/2 c granulated white sugar (300g)

1 egg

2 tsp extract (recipe doesn't call for this, but I think it adds a lot. I use 1tsp each of vanilla and butter extract)

1 1/3 c flour (I use bread flour)

2/3 c freeze dried corn powder (65g)*

1/4 c corn flour (45g) (mix 1/4c flour with 4tsp dried corn powder)

3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

*you can get freeze dried whole corn kernels from Target or Whole Foods (or online). Grind it in a food processer or coffee grinder (specifically for spices) and measure from there.

1. Cream together butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add egg, beat until well combined. The original recipe calls for beating in the egg for 8 minutes (!!!) but ain't nobody got time for that. I also think beating it for that long will contribute to the spreading of the cookie. Beat in extract.
3. On low speed, add in all the dry ingredients until JUST mixed. Do not over mix.
4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour, or better, overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Scoop out cookies while still cold, spaced about 3 inches from each other.
6. Bake for about 12 minutes. Check on them, see how soft they are in the center. Bake for additional time as needed.

The cornflake cookies take a bit more time and an additional step. You need to make something called cornflake crunch, but believe me, you won't mind the additional step. The crunch is so salty and delicious and try not to eat all of it before you make the cookies.

sweet and salty heaven on friggin' earth

Momofuku Milk Bar Cornflake Crunch
makes enough for 1 recipe cornflakechocolateetc cookies
2 1/2 c cornflakes (170g)
1/4 c milk powder (20g)*
1 1/2 tbsp sugar (20g)
1/2 tsp kosher salt (2g)
4 tbsp butter, melted (60g)

*you can get nonfat dry milk powder in most grocery stores in the baking aisle.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
1. Pour cornflakes into a bowl and crush them with your hands until they are about a quarter of their original size.
2. Add milk powder, sugar, and salt and toss to mix.
3. Add the melted butter and toss. The butter will kind of "glue" together all the dry ingredients to the cereal.
4. Spread the mixture on a lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown and toasty. Use in a recipe or eat as is (or try not to).

Momofuku Milk Bar Cornflake-Chocolate-Chip-Marshmallow Cookies
makes about 2 dozen 2oz cookies
2 sticks softened butter (225g) (again, use a tbsp or 2 less)
1 1/4c granulated white sugar (250g)
2/3 c brown sugar (150g)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (2g)
1 1/2c flour (240g) (again, I would use bread flour because of the high fat content of these cookies)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 recipe cornflake crunch (above)
2/3 c mini chocolate chips (125g) (or any you have on hand)
1 1/4 c mini marshmallows (65g)


1. Cream together butter and sugars on medium high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add egg, beat until well combined. Beat in extract.
3. On low speed, add in all the dry ingredients until JUST mixed - no longer than 1 minute. Do not over mix.
4. Still on low speed, add in the cornflake crunch, chocolate chips until barely mixed in. For the marshmallows: AFTER I scoop the cookies, I pinch off a bit of the top of the dough mound and add 4 -5 mini marshmallows, as shown in the picture above. Then I replace the top and lightly press on it. You can mix them in the batter if you want, but this ensures your marshmallows will stay in the center of the cookies, not the edges where they will spread out all over your baking sheet.
5. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour, or better, overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Scoop out cookies while still cold, spaced about 3 inches from each other.
6. Bake for about 12 minutes. Check on them, see how soft they are in the center. Bake for additional time as needed. These cookies are finicky, so they might need as much as 16 minutes. Keep an eye on them.

I know these recipes are a bit complex, but I love complex flavors. I also love baking in the kitchen for half the day. But maybe that's just me ;)

me decorating a (vegan) cake I made for my brother's birthday last year.

I hope you guys enjoyed one of my first baking posts! How did you like it? Should I post more?