A Year of Cookies

My 52 week cookie challenge finally came to an end a couple months ago.  Fifty-two weeks and 52 distinct batches of cookies.  The motivation came from wanting to fill the void left by Charcutepalooza's ending, but I wanted something weekly rather than monthly.  The inspiration came from an anecdote in the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook where Christina Tosi would bake goodies every night after work.

Below are all the cookies I made, starting from the most recent.  I’ve highlighted and included pictures of the cookies that were personal or office favorites.  Many of the flavor combinations were inspired by things I’d enjoyed eating.  Although many of the choices may sound gross or weird, there wasn’t a cookie that was universally reviled.  Most surprisingly, everyone enjoyed the durian cookie.

• 53 (Bonus Track): Crack Pie cookie.  Inspired by Momofuku Milk Bar.  (above)
• 52: Mushroom, spruce.  Inspired by Next: The Hunt.
• 51: Chocolate, spruce, Buddha’s hand
• 50: Mung bean, pandan, coconut, Maggi.  Inspired by banh tet.
• 49: Durian, coconut.  Inspired by xoi sau rieng.
• 48: Soybean, pandan, ginger, coconut.  Inspired by douhua.
• 47: Popcorn.  Inspired by Coi.
• 46: Seaweed, longan, corn.  Inspired by che sam bo luong and Ink.
• 45: Pandan, soybean.  Inspired by soybean milk with pandan.
• 44: Purple yam
• 43: Candy cane, chocolate chip
• 42: Buddha’s hand, chocolate crumb
• 41: Chocolate, blueberry, peanut, honey.  Inspired by Alinea.
• 40: Jasmine, coconut.  Inspired by my mom’s jasmine-coconut agar-agar jelly.
• 39: Oatmeal
• 38: Maple, schmaltz, fried chicken spices.  Inspired by chicken & waffles.
• 37: Chocolate, mint, cherries
• 36: Corn, shrimp.  Inspired by Elizabeth Restaurant.
• 35: Chocolate chip
• 34: Corn, cocoa.  Inspired by pozol.
• 33: Honey, honey powder, honey milk crumb, bee pollen.  Inspired by Eleven Madison Park.
• 32: Banana, cheese.  Inspired by my mom’s banana wrapped in Kraft singles snack.
• 31: Corn, cheese.  Inspired by maiz con queso ice cream and Cheetos.
• 30: Jasmine tea, matcha milk crumb
• 29: Pea, strawberry, white chocolate.  Inspired by Alinea.
• 28: Chocolate, raisin, orange
• 27: Peaches, milk crumb
• 26: Chocolate, strawberry, peppermint, black pepper
• 25: Peanut butter, strawberry
• 24: Hazelnut, chocolate chip
• 23: Tomato, sumac, olive oil powder
• 22: Chocolate, chocolate chip, coconut, peppermint
• 21: Peanut butter, banana, coconut, honey, pandan
• 20: Strawberry, lavender, pepper, milk crumb
• 19b: Curry, peanut butter, chocolate chip, coconut
• 19a: Fermented shrimp paste, Fruity Pebbles, marshmallow.  Inspired by Schwa.
• 18: Pandan, oatmeal, raisin
• 17: Peanut butter, celery, olives.  Inspired by DiverXO.
• 16: Longan, lotus seed, seaweed.  Inspired by che sam bo luong.
• 15: Chocolate, kumquat
• 14: Mango, milk crumb
• 13: Banana, coconut
• 12: Chocolate, milk crumb
• 11: Black sesame, miso, sesame crunch.  Inspired by Next: elBulli.
• 10: Persimmon, milk crumb
• 9: Corn, coconut, sesame
• 8: Milk Bar peanut butter
• 7: Milk Bar compost
• 6: Milk Bar confetti
• 5: Milk Bar corn
• 4: Milk Bar chocolate-chocolate
• 3: Milk Bar blueberry & cream
• 2: Milk Bar Fruity Pebble
• 1: Milk Bar cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow

29: Pea, strawberry, white chocolate.  Inspired by Alinea.

32: Banana, cheese.  Inspired by my mom’s banana wrapped in Kraft singles snack.

46: Seaweed, longan, corn.  Inspired by che sam bo luong and Ink.

48: Soybean, pandan, ginger, coconut.  Inspired by douhua.

Cheese & Banana Cookie

Ever since starting my 52 week cookie challenge, I’ve slowly tried to introduce typically savory ingredients into my cookies.  The Momofuku Milk Bar corn cookie was a nice starting point.  From there I experimented with cookies that incorporated things like miso, fermented shrimp paste, tomatoes, and sumac.  After my most recent meal at Alinea, I was inspired to make a pea-based cookie which ended up being quite phenomenal.  The pea cookie was actually my favorite cookie I’d made so far.  Then week 33 rolled around and the cheese & banana cookie was born.

A few weeks prior, some coworkers and I were talking about Cheetos.  Naturally the discussion lead to a Cheetos cookie, and a batch was made shortly after.  This cheese & corn cookie based off of the Milk Bar corn cookie ratios was a unanimous winner, although I wouldn’t really call it a Cheetos cookie.  The cheese flavor was subtle, but the aroma was very cheesy.  The flavor was creamy and buttery, and the smell was reminiscent of Cheez-Its.

To take the cheese & corn cookie to the next level I bumped up the amount of cheese and did what I usually do: revert back to childhood.  One of my favorite after school snacks as a child was a banana wrapped in a Kraft single.  The mix between salty and sweet was always a winner, and who doesn’t love Kraft singles?  When you think about it, it’s not that odd of a combination as fruit and cheese are a classic pairing.

For my cheese & banana cookie, I decided to use yet another childhood favorite: Vietnamese dried bananas.  They’re not like banana chips.  Think of them as like sun-dried bananas glazed in honey.  The sun-drying concentrates the banana flavor, which is already pretty amped up due to the fact that ripe apple bananas are used.  I find the banana flavor in apple bananas much more intense than your average banana.

After baking the cookies off, the outer half of the cookie was nice and crunchy, while the center half was perfectly soft and fudgy.  That’s the beauty of the Milk Bar cookie recipes.  A third iteration of the cheese cookie will likely find it’s way into my oven based on a tip I received about adding roasted sweet peppers in addition to the bananas.

Cheese & Banana Cookie

Mise En Place

1. Follow M.E.P. for the Momofuku Milk Bar corn cookie with the following substitutions and additions
2. 225 g flour => 265 g flour
3. 45 g corn flour => 0 g corn flour
4. 65 g freeze-dried corn powder => 75 g powdered cheese
5. 3 g baking powder => 1.5 g baking powder
6. 6 g kosher salt => 8 g kosher salt
7. 150 g Vietnamese dried banana, diced into 1 cm x 0.5 cm pieces

Method

1. Follow method for the Momofuku Milk Bar corn cookie with the following additions
2. After flour, leaveners, and powdered cheese have been mixed, add banana and mix until evenly distributed, no more than 30 seconds

Cookies

Seaweed, dried longan, lotus seed – Inspired by Vietnamese che sam bo luong

Earlier this year, I went on somewhat of a cookbook shopping spree.  White Heat, The Fat Duck Cookbook, Heston Blumenthal at Home, The Flavor Bible, Ideas in Food, and Momofuku were all purchased in the same week.  One book that stood head and shoulders above the rest, however, was Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi.  Momofuku Milk Bar is bakery with a handful of locations in New York City and are known for their quirky pastries like the compost cookie: chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, graham crumbs, pretzels, potato chips, oats, and coffee grounds.

 

Oatmeal, pandan, raisins – Inspired by the groats I made one time

What really got me hooked on the book was Tosi’s electric personality that comes through in the stories and anecdotes she tells as well as in the recipes.  On top of that, the recipes are some of the most well thought out and detailed recipes I’ve come across.  It’s one of the only cookbooks I’ve read cover to cover and it’s probably my favorite cookbook.

 

Peanut butter, celery seed, olives – Inspired by ants on a log and a dessert I had at DiverXO

Once I finished reading the book, I made it a goal to bake all the cookie recipes minus the holiday cookie since Christmas had passed and minus the oat cookie because I was planning on using it for crack pie.  That amounted to one cookie recipe per week for 8 weeks.  After 8 consecutive weeks, I met my goal, learning a lot of things on the way through trial and error and via Tweet with Tosi Fridays.  I couldn’t just stop at 8, though.

 

Black sesame, white sesame crunch, miso – Inspired by a course I had at Next: elBulli

On week 9, I started making my own cookies based on the ratios found in the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook but with ingredients and flavors that were near and dear to my heart.  It’s now week 18 and I’ve managed to come up with the 10 cookies you see here.  The tentative plan for the week 19 cookie is an homage to Schwa, where I recently had the best meal of my life: dried shrimp and Fruity Pebbles or celery root, celery seed, and green apple.

 

Vietnamese dried banana, coconut, chocolate crumb – Inspired by Vietnamese banh chuoi

 

Chocolate, preserved kumquat

 

Chocolate, milk crumb

 

Corn, coconut, sesame seed – Inspired by Vietnamese che bap

 

Dried mango, milk crumb

 

Dried persimmon, milk crumb