I can’t believe it took me weeks to realise there was a block of chocolate nesting in my pantry! It’s the longest a chocolate bar has ever lasted in my house and a definite sign that there’s too much clutter in the cupboards…
A quick inventory revealed:
- pop rocks leftover from a Redbull popping candy cupcake recipe
- two ziplocked lumps of pink and yellow fondant from a cake decorating class held 4 months ago. Gross. Still need to blog about it, but the finished Exploding Star cake is up on Flickr
- a box of mini wildberry weetbix from when we had houseguests. Two months ago.
- a bag of oats I won in a competition. Last used for a breakfast muffin recipe.
- almonds: natural. And blanched. And slivered. Gees….
- fresh Jatz crackers from a wine & cheese movie night. Score! (and Hot Tub Time Machine is less lame than the name of the movie implies).
I just knew the best way to use all the (edible) scraps was to bake the infamous “Compost Cookie” dreamed by genius pastry chef Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar and “Crack Pie” fame.
As you might have guessed, this is a kitchen-sink kind of cookie: a basic vanilla cookie base to which you add a combo of whatever the heck you feel like. Potato chips, pretzels, M&Ms, twisties, caramels. You really can’t go wrong with these.
One of the things I learned from a course with pocket-rocket patissier Kirsten Tibballs was that 3 different textures is the key to a great dessert. I wanted my cookies to include squidginess (the base), crunch (chocolate chunks and nuts) and chewiness (dried fruit). I also wanted a nice balance of sweet and savoury.
Into my cookies went dark chocolate chunks, oats, crushed weetbix, crushed Jatz crackers, chopped dried dates and walnut crumbs. The end result is a super-yummo sugary, buttery, chewy cookie with hints of bitter dark chocolate and salty crackers cutting through the sweetness. I highly recommend baking these to make both your tummy and pantry happy.
Fess up time! What crazy things are lurking in your pantry and what kitchen experiments were they subjected to? Ever forgotten you owned something?
And if you’ve made Compost Cookies yourself, what is your signature “Compost combo”?
MOMOFUKU MILK BAR COMPOST COOKIE
Makes 18 large cookies
125g Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1 cup Caster Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 large Eggs
1 3/4 cup Plain Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate Soda
2 teaspoons Salt
3 cups “compost”: anything you can think of e.g. chocolate chips, potato chips, pretzels, dried fruit
The Cake Mistress combo: Dark chocolate, Jatz crackers, oats, dates, walnuts, berry weetbix
Directions:
Place softened butter, caster sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Using the flat paddle attachment, mix in the eggs and vanilla on low speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Once mixed, crank the speed back up to medium-high and beat for 10 minutes. This whips the batter to a fluffy pale white almost double the original volume.
While the batter is beating, crush and chop up your “compost” mix.
When 10 minutes is up turn the speed down to low and mix in the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt until the dough just comes together. Scrape down the bowl. Tip in your “compost” mix and beat on low again until just combined.
Line a tray with baking paper. Spoon tablespoons (or icecream scoops) of dough onto the tray, leaving a 3 cm gap between each one. Place in the fridge for at least one hour so the dough firms up. This is necessary to prevent the cookies from spreading too far when they bake.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will flatten, spread out and crack on the top. They are done when the cookies are browned on the edges and golden brown in the centre. Let them cool completely before trying to lift them off the baking sheet, as they are still soft when warm. Don’t worry, they harden as they cool.
Will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
(recipe by Christina Tosi. Spotted on The Amateur Gourmet, sourced from the Regis & Kelly website)
