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

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!