Monday, March 05, 2012

Momofuku Milk Bar’s Blueberry and Cream Cookies—Secret Recipe Club

Blueberries and Cream Cookies (March SRC)

One of my favorite things is cookies.  Who didn’t know that?  Raise your hand, or maybe you shouldn’t admit it if you didn’t know. :)  So when I have a new blog given to me for the Secret Recipe Club, one of the first things I search for on the blog is cookies.  After looking at all the cookies, I then look at other goodies like brownies, cakes, pies, etc.  I can’t help it.  Don’t get me wrong.  I look at all the savory dishes, too.  But I always seem to settle on a dessert.  I just want to remind you that my family pretty much usually eat healthy, nutritious meals.  I’m not making that up.  We like a little sweet treat, too!

For the Secret Recipe Club this month I actually chose a couple recipes to make.  The first one I went with from the blog I was given, which is Tessa’s blog, The Cookin' Chemist was for her Grandma's Chocolate Zucchini Cake.  I made the cake one day and decided to make cupcakes.  The cake is one of those tried and true classic grandma cakes with zucchini as the star and chocolate playing a nice background role.  And I learned something when I made this recipe.  Do not keep your canola oil and extra virgin olive oil right next to each other in the same cupboard!  I unknowingly grabbed the EVOO instead of canola and put it in the cake batter.  As I was scooping out the batter into the cupcake liners, I thought it had a strange smell to it.  After a little taste, it dawned on me that I’d used the wrong oil. 

I was happy to find out that the cupcakes were actually really good and the EVOO was barely detectable.  But for some reason after that, I decided to make another recipe for my SRC post today.  I was taking pride in the fact that with the zucchini cake, I was actually following Tessa’s grandma’s recipe exactly—until I made the little mishap with the oil.  At least the cupcakes were still edible and the boys liked them and didn’t even know they had zucchini in them!  I ended up only taking one picture of an unfrosted cupcake, but go check out Tessa’s cake on the link above.  I plan to make the cake again soon!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcake (March SRC) 2-28-12 (made with EVOO)

The cookies that I decided to make from Tessa’s blog were the Momofuku Milk Bar Blueberry and Cream Cookies she’d made from the September 2010 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine.  I halved the recipe and changed things up just a little with less sugar and a little more flour, as I have been doing lately because I think it really helps with our higher altitude here. 

The different, interesting and fun thing about this recipe is that it has “milk crumbs” in it.  You first make a crumb mixture with dry powdered milk, flour, a little sugar and cornstarch and prepare it like you would a crumble or streusel and then bake it on a baking sheet until they are crispy.  (I forgot to photograph those.)  Those crumbs  and some dried blueberries are then mixed in to the cookie dough.  The recipe says to bake the cookies at 375 degrees for 20-22 minutes!  If I would have done that, they would have burned to a crisp.  I tried the cookies many different ways for fun.  Once the cookie dough is made and the cookies are scooped onto a baking sheet, they are supposed to be chilled for 24 hours.  I decided to bake a few without any chilling time first.

March SRC Momofuko Blueberries & Cream Cookies 3-2-12

These cookies that were not chilled first were baked for only 12 minutes of the suggested 20-22 minutes.  They are brown and crisp.  I’m not sure if the 20-22 minute bake time is a typo from the magazine or what.  Tessa also mentioned that the baking time was too long and maybe that the oven temperature was too high.  I know that many people like a good, crisp cookie.  The recipe also suggested that the cookies will really spread as they bake.  These didn’t spread THAT much.

After the 24 hours chill time, I baked more of the cookies, but only baked them for 10 minutes—more to our liking.  They are really good.  I’m not totally in love with the milk crumbs, they do add something strange to the cookies, but was pleased with how they ultimately turned out.  Well, before adding blueberries to all of the cookie dough, I reserved some for playing around with and added some tart dried cherries and white chocolate.

Cherries & White Chocolate and Cream Cookies 3-3-12

Those turned out good!  But guess which my favorite variation is?  In some of the cookie dough with the cherries, I added some dark chocolate and I must say, those are my pick for the winners!

Cherries and Dark Chocolate and Cream Cookies (March SRC) 3-3-12

Get the recipe for these here on Tessa's blog!  They really are a nice cookie as it’s fun to try something different!  Check out the round up of recipes posted today from Group A down below!

SRC-button

18 comments:

Sara said...

Yum, great choices this month! I have had my eye on those blueberry momofuku cookies for a while, but I have to say that your chocolate cherry version looks even better - wow! :)

Unknown said...

I just love Tessa's blog, how fun that you got to try a few things from it! I'll take 2 cookies and a cupcake please :)

Sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more said...

I had no idea you liked cookies;p these sound great!

Sarah @ The Pajama Chef said...

yum! blueberries are great, but i love the idea of the dark chocolate ones too!

Jane Bonacci - The Heritage Cook said...

How wonderful that you made two recipes this month - and they both look fabulous! I am hoping to get to Momofuku when I visit NYC later this month and will be sure to get some of these cookies!!!

Shumaila said...

I, for one, did not know you were a cookie fan ;)! Haha!

I have been wanting to try Momofuku recipes and you reminded me once again why I wanted to do so in the first place.

Great picks!

P.S: I loved choosing a recipe from your blog and LOVED the one I finally decided to make!

Veronica Miller said...

They turned out really pretty and I love the sound of "blueberry and cream" in a cookie. mmmmmmmmmm

Amanda said...

You know, I have to tease you! You seem to bake more and more often now with white chocolate. When just a year ago you wouldn't! Haha - These look awesome! And I've made cakes with olive oil before and they are great!

Wendy (pinkstripes) said...

The one recipe I've tried from Momofuku was wonky too. It was for some sort of bar cookie, I ended up throwing most of it away.

The cookies look great and I'm glad they turned out. I like all the variations. The chocolate zucchini cupcake looks yummy too!

Lisa said...

And all this time I thought one of your favorite things was chocolate! :) Those cookies look like a winner for sure, but I think the dark chocolate ones would be my fave too.

Shelby said...

oh blueberries in cookies, you know you got me! I think I could make these and make myself happy anyway. lol Grumpy would go for the white chocolate... Looks delish Katrina!

Angie A said...

Ohhh these look good. kind of reminiscent of the raspberry cheesecake cookies at subway maybe? Good stuff!

Amber | Bluebonnets and Brownies said...

Mmm all those cookies. I want one! Chocolate and cherry would have been my favorite out of the three too.. especially because I usually feel that blueberries are from the devil. :) (It's a personal preference, I guess!)

I'm intrigued by the milk "crumbles" - that's pretty interesting.

Tessa said...

Glad you gave these cookies a try - your variations sound amazing.

Your picture of the cupcake makes me want some of that zucchini cake. Now if only my zucchini plant in the garden will hurry up and grow!

Lisa~~ said...

I like your cherry & white chocolate combo, yum!

If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my SRC entry: Broiled Sushi.

Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook

Trisha said...

I love that you made two awesome baked goodies, good on you!

Gourmet Cookware said...

Since next school year I will try to bake cookies for my school boys. I love how your cookies look like but I love the cupcake more. It looks moist and yummy.

Unknown said...

Hahha ofcourse the dark chocolate ones were better :)