Last week, I wrote about Momofuku Milk Bar and how Christina Tosi’s recipe for milk crumbs inspired the Raspberry and Cream Shortbread Cookies I posted. This week’s recipe follows along with the idea of berries and cream: Blueberries and Cream.
It felt like a natural progression in my journey of developing new cookie recipes: I had a bag of dried blueberries from Target and almost half a batch of milk crumbs left in the refrigerator from the week before. I was determined to use both of them. Luckily, the white chocolate and milk flavors combine perfectly with the sweet, juicy bite of the dried blueberries. Add in some cinnamon and oats and it’s almost like you have a bowl of cereal you can easily hold in your hands.
I was surprised, at first, by just how much I loved these cookies. So much so, that I was wonderfully delighted the next time I made them as well. They are pretty ridiculous. I brought a batch into work along with the Raspberry and Cream Shortbread and these disappeared within an hour. The oats add texture to the dough, and the cinnamon and extra dose of vanilla play off the sweetness of the berries and the white chocolate in perfect harmony.
Let me confess here and now that I have a bit of an addiction to the dried fruits and nuts aisle at Target. This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned a find from there–banana chips, freeze-dried raspberries, these dried blueberries–and it certainly won’t be the last. I’m sure these things are all readily available at other grocery stores, but for some reason Target is the only place where I actually take the time to linger and look at all of the packages. It’s a slight problem, but it has also led to some of my absolute favorite recipes. So maybe it’s not something that can qualify as a bad addiction? It’s like not being able to stop taking care of yourself–there’s more good that comes of it than harm.
While I did mention the Blueberry and Cream Cookie from Momofuku Milk Bar in my post last week, these are nothing like the one I carried back to my 10th Avenue, windowless room on a hot September day. That cookie was so soft that it instantly melted and collapsed in my hand as I ate it to the sound of my box fan and my roommate’s phone whistling every time she got a text. These are thick and chewy with crumbs that make their way to your lap as you chew. They feel a bit more homemade, a bit heartier, and way more satisfying.
This is the kind of cookie you could eat for breakfast and really, I wouldn’t blame you or judge you one bit for doing so!
| Cook Time | 20-22 minutes |
| Servings |
cookies
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- 3/4 cup instant nonfat dry milk
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 Tbsp corn starch
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 Tbsp butter melted
- 3 ounces white chocolate melted
Ingredients
Christina Tosi's Milk Crumbs (makes about 1 3/4 cup)
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- Make the milk crumbs: Heat the oven to 250°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the dry milk with the flour, corn starch, sugar, and salt. With a spatula, stir in the butter until small clumps start to form. Spread the mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake 20 minutes until sandy. Cool. Return the crumbs to a bowl, stir in the other 1/4 cup of dry milk and pour the white chocolate into the crumbs, mixing until evenly coated. Set aside.
- Brown the butter: Cut your butter evenly into cubes and line them on the bottom of a medium saucepan. Over medium heat, melt the butter. Allow it to bubble and foam for about five minutes, stirring occasionally with a spatula to keep the heat evenly distributed and to keep the milk solids from sticking to the bottom of the pan. After five minutes, remove the pan from the heat and swirl for 15 seconds. It should start to smell a bit nutty and the color of the butter will be noticeably darker. Pour the butter into a small bowl or ramekin and stick in the freezer for ten minutes to keep it from cooking. There will be brown grainy bits at the bottom, you want to scrape all of that out of the pot--that's where most of the flavor comes from.
- While the butter is cooling, whisk together the flour, rolled oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until fully combined. You might have to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula--it likes to stick. Add the egg and vanilla, one at a time, mixing to combine between each.
- Add the dry ingredients 1/2 at a time, mixing until the dough comes together and a light dusting of flour remains. Fold in the dried blueberries, milk crumbs, and white chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F and line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper. Using a large ice cream or cookie scoop, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake 20-22 minutes until the bottoms start to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and, using a spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to a cooling rack or a cool baking sheet.
The milk crumb recipe makes more than you'll need for these cookies. You can either cut the recipe in half or refrigerate the rest for up to a week in case you want to use them for something else!