Momofuku Milk Bar

Milk Bar Mondays: Grapefruit Pie

August 6, 2012 | 18 Comments

It’s another Milk Bar Monday! And time for some more kitchen alchemy. Plus you’re going to get to use up some of that summer citrus fruit you’ve got hanging around. And the bonus: there’ll be pie at the end.

I’m pretty sure we should get started.

If you have any experience with this glorious cookbook, or if you’ve been reading along on Milk Bar Mondays, you may have observed that some of the recipes can require tweaking. In the case of this lovely summertime pie, it’s the not-so-inconspicuous requirement of a not-so-readily-available ingredient that precipitates the aforementioned tweaking. Not-often-found-in-my-pantry: citric acid.

Let the tweaking commence.

The concept of this pie is a worthy one:

(Buttery, baked, Ritz cracker crust + Passion fruit curd insides)(Sweetened, condensed, grapefruit-thickened filling) = Yes, please.

That’s my kind of math.

The issue is that the filling is basically a layer of sweetened, condensed milk thickened with grapefruit juice and citric acid. And when you’re plum out of citric acid, your condensed milk won’t thicken. What’s a baker girl to do?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: grapefruit, Milk Bar Mondays, Momofuku Milk Bar, passion fruit puree, pie, recipe, Ritz Crunch, ruby red juice, sweet, sweetened condensed milk

Milk Bar Mondays: Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

July 16, 2012 | 18 Comments

Isn’t baking fun? Yes! Duh.

And when it comes to baking, I actually enjoy the failures just as much as the successes. Most of the time.

Take the Milk Bar cookie, for example.

It would be an understatement to say that the story of Me & The Milk Bar Cookie began as a tale of epic failure. Fire reigning from the sky. Swarms of locusts. Clothing rending. Fetal positioning. (Stay with me – there’s chocolate at the end of this story.)

If you’ve stopped by here on a Monday over the past few months, you know that I have no shortage of love for all things Milk Bar: cakes, pies, curds and creams – there’s really nothing for a sugar addict such as myself not to love.

So cookies were going to be a lock, right? Simple to bake, so easy to consume, cookies, to me, are like dessert redux; they’re everything a sweet tooth could want and so much more.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Abuelita, chocolate, cookie, Mexican chocolate, Milk Bar Mondays, Momofuku Milk Bar, Plugrá butter, recipe, sweet, vanilla

Milk Bar Mondays: Birthday Layer Cake

June 18, 2012 | 21 Comments

A. and I have this thing called the Sleep Chamber. No, it’s not our newest anti-aging mechanism! We’re pickling ourselves with salsa verde and queso for that, silly goose!

The Sleep Chamber is where you go, at least metaphorically speaking, when you just want to coast through a specific period of time that is standing between you and greatness.

You’ve got a big fiesta coming up on Friday – you Sleep Chamber through Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
You’re going on a shoe shopping spree on Saturday – you Sleep Chamber through Friday afternoon and Saturday morning cartoons.
There’s a pizza party on your Saturday evening schedule – you Sleep Chamber through toast and egg salad sandwiches.

The Sleep Chamber is your mental express pass to the destination, event, or pizza feast of your choosing.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: birthday cake, birthday cake crumb, birthday cake soak, frosting, layer cake, Milk Bar Mondays, Momofuku Milk Bar, rainbow sprinkles, recipe, sweet

Milk Bar Mondays: Cornflake Cookies

May 21, 2012 | 42 Comments

My mom was pretty strict with the sweets when we were kids. It’s true.

And it was a hardship. You try smuggling 3 Twix bars home in the waistband of your shorts on a 98°, 110% humidity August day in Virginia.

That’s just not the kind of accident you want to have on the bus ride home from your first day of second grade.

I would have to say that the morning cereal bowl was where it hurt the most. I don’t care what you add to them, Grape-Nuts just aren’t cool. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

But cornflakes were tolerable. They really were. Between cornflakes and Rice Krispies with honey, I managed to survive my sugar-free youth.

Now, many moons later, imagine how it feels to take some healthy cornflakes and snazz them up with some chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. Sinful. Sinful I tell you! Please don’t tell my mom.

As I’ve baked my way through this illustrious book, I’ve learned one really important thing about the recipes: you really just need to do what C. Tosi says. Exactly as she says it.

Take these cookies, for example. If you don’t 1) use full fat butter, preferably European-style butter, 2) follow the Milk Bar extended mixing method, and 3) take the time to chill your dough before baking, you’re going to end up with a cookie puddle on your pan.

It will be the most delicious puddle that your mouth will ever trip and fall into, but it will be a puddle nonetheless.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cereal, chocolate chip, cookie, cornflake, marshmallow, Milk Bar Mondays, Momofuku Milk Bar, recipe, sugar, sweet

Milk Bar Mondays: Crack Pie

April 9, 2012 | 55 Comments

I remember back in the day, when cell phones were enormous and hair was enormouser, my friends and I would scour the Earth for CD releases from our favorite indie bands. As soon as we were able to score a CD or two, we’d lock the door to one of our rooms and sit around listening to each track over and over and over and over, hating on the world and loving on the music.

At some point it became a thing for bands to include double top-secret bonus tracks that lucky listeners would have to find on their own. Imagine skipping over track after track after track hoping to find that hidden gem. This girl did it. Because once you found it you were the coolest kid in town, sharing your bonus goodness find with anyone who you deemed worthy.

If you’ve read this book, you know that Crack Pie is listed as the bonus track to the rest of the book’s string of hits.

I found that hidden track. I’m sharing it with you. Prepare to have your brain fall out of your head. It’s time for Crack Pie.

The recipe for Crack Pie is deceptively simple. You’re making a crust and you’re making a filling. Duh.

You need to use your stand mixer. And you need to pay attention while you’re baking. But you’ll be churning out two whole pies in no time.

I suspect the key to successful Crack Pieage is twofold:

1. Creaming the filling in a stand mixer. The book flat out says it. And it makes sense since you’re not filling with mounds of apples or pecans or anything else with its own texture and consistency. You’re making your pie filling from scratch so it needs to be perfecto. You can do it with a hand mixer, and things will still taste stellar. It just might not be, you know, crack-like.

2. Baking the pies carefully, at the correct temperatures, for the correct amount of time. The recipe instructs a baking time of 15 minutes at 350° before you lower the temp to 325° and bake until only the bulls-eye center remains jiggly. My oven is stoopit so I really needed to watch carefully as I lowered the temperature, alternating between keeping the door open and then closed so that the temp dropped but not too low. No biggie. Just keep your eye on it.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: butter, Crack Pie, eggs, light brown sugar, Milk Bar Mondays, Momofuku Milk Bar, Oat Cookie, recipe, rolled oats, sweet

Milk Bar Mondays: Chocolate Chip Layer Cake

March 19, 2012 | 47 Comments

I don’t think of myself as a celebrity stalker. I’ve never collected autographs. I don’t show up at premiers and scream. And I’ve never hid out in somebody’s car, hoping for a chance to introduce myself.

OK, maybe I did that just once to A. But he’s not a celebrity and things like that stop counting after 10 years. Right? Riiiiiiight.

But when somebody makes something or has an idea that I admire, I think it’s cool to tell them. “Hey, I think you’re smart.” “Hey, I think you’re cool.” “Hey, I like the way your brain works.” It’s the right thing to do.

You may have been reading about my adventures, along with a group of lovely friends, as we bake our way through this book.

There’s been butter. There’s been sugar. There’s been lots and lots of deliciousness and fun.

So when I had the chance to spend an afternoon with none other than the author of the book du jour, you best believe I snatched it.

So this is the story of a class, a cake and an afternoon with Christina Tosi. It’s bananas without the peel.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Chocolate Chip Cake, chocolate crumb, Christina Tosi, coffee frosting, Milk Bar Mondays, mini chocolate chips, Momofuku Milk Bar, passion fruit curd, recipe, sweet

Milk Bar Mondays: Confetti Cookies

March 12, 2012 | 41 Comments

I like festive foods, don’t you? And I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what makes food festive.

Mini foods are festive. Ironically so are big foods.

But colorful foods are where it’s at. Colorful food makes me want to party like a rock star, and I think 9 out of 10 people share this view.

So you best get your party pants on: we’re about to dive into some colorful Confetti Cookies.

As with all good things in life, these cookies start with a shamefully large supply of butter. And eggs. Get ready for it.

But the key to the Confetti Cookie is a whole bunch of rainbow sprinkles. Sprinkles in the cake crumbs that you make first, and sprinkles directly in the cookie dough that you make later.

I know you’re feeling festive right about now. Unless you’re that 1 out of 10, in which case I can’t help you.

Here’s the thing about these cookies: they’re ginormous. I baked them off three to a sheet. Three cookies! One sheet pan! But they’re so colorful and prettie that it’s hard to be mad.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: birthday cake crumb, cake flour, Confetti Cookie, grapeseed oil, light brown sugar, Milk Bar Mondays, Momofuku Milk Bar, rainbow sprinkles, recipe, sweet

Milk Bar Mondays: Carrot Cake Truffles

February 6, 2012 | 42 Comments

Something new today! But still very delish.

Something from this book. The book that launched a thousand ships on a sea of drool.

Today we celebrate our very first Milk Bar Monday! That is, Mondays on which myself and a group of lovely friends will be bringing you the greatest hits from Momofuku’s Milk Bar cookbook.

Beginning today with some crazy awesome Carrot Cake Truffles. Can you stand it?!? Me neither. Let’s get started.

I’ll break it down step-by-step for you. Just so your brain can handle everything that I’m bringing today.

1. The moistest, sweetly spiced, carrot-riddled cake that you can imagine.

The carrots are there. Doing their sweet/crunchy thing.

The cinnamon is involved.

It’s a successful cake situation.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: butter, carrot cake, cheesecake, Milk Bar Mondays, milk crumb, Momofuku Milk Bar, recipe, sweet, truffle, white chocolate

Momofuku Compost Cookies & A Cookie Swap

December 12, 2011 | 33 Comments

The other day at the library I overheard a tutor teaching a young boy how to identify the ‘main idea’ in an article that he was reading. Young Boy seemed smart. I think he got it.

So if Young Boy was reading SB today he would have no trouble telling you that the main idea of today’s post is cookies.

Baking cookies. Swapping cookies. Eating cookies.

Cookies. Cookies. Cookies. Cookies. Cookies.

Starting with some spectacular Momofuku Compost Cookies.

Since we have so much cookieness to discuss today, I’ll keep the talking to a minimum. But I did want to tell you about this book. Momofuku Milk Bar. I’m obsessed with it.

I just adore the unconventional, science + culinary arts approach that is Momofuku.

So when I signed up for the 1st Annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, I knew that I needed to get my Momofuku on with these Compost Cookies.