Meanwhile, back here in Virginia, the one thing I have made were these cookies. The recipe comes from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook and was recommended to me by my aunt. These cookies are colorful and festive and I made them for my friend to celebrate that she got a new job. I had been wanting to make these, but it’s taken awhile because the recipe is a bit labor intensive and requires some obscure ingredients. For real, I had to order some ingredients online. This cookie is a labor of love. But, sugary sweet, happy, and worth it.

They are a bit like snicker doodles,which the author, Christina Tosi, says is because of the cream of tartar. In the book, Tosi also wrote that she wanted to create boxed Funfetti cake in a cookie. And I think she nailed it. The cookie is so sweet, indulgent, and so cheerful. Yes, I did just say a cookie could be cheerful. I love the colorful sprinkles – it makes them the perfect celebration cookie.

As I said this recipe is from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook. This recipe requires a two step process – first you make “crumb” and then you make the cookie dough. Neither step is super challenging, but I thought you should be forewarned. If you get intimidated, just remember how wonderful and pretty sprinkles are and then you’ll be able to keep going.

Ingredients

Crumb:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 tbsp brown sugar

3/8 cup cake flour (45 grams)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

1/8 cup grapeseed oil

1/2 tbsp Clear Vanilla Extract (clear or imitation extract is apparently important, makes it taste more like box Funfetti cake)

Cookie Dough:

16 tbsp butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tbsp glucose

2 eggs

2 tsp clear vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups of flour

2/3 cup milk powder

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 rainbow sprinkles

cake crumb recipe

Directions:

1. First we’re making the crumb. Preheat the oven to 300°.

2. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on low speed, mix together the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles.

3. Add the oil and vanilla. Mix again until evenly mixed and small clusters start to form.

4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pour the clusters onto the parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Break them up occasionally as they cook. The crumbs should still be a bit moist when you take them out of the oven – they will dry out as they cool.

5. Let them cool completely before using them in the cookie dough. (I waited 1 hour)

6. Take the butter out of the fridge. You can let it come to room temperature while you wait for the crumb to cool.

7. Ok, now start on the cookies. In the stand mixer (which you’ve cleaned out from before), combine the butter, sugar, and glucose. Beat on medium-high for 2 minutes.

8. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 7-8 minutes. (Tosi says this is the key to her cookies being great – the butter is so fluffy and creamy this way).

9. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour, milk powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and rainbow sprinkles. Mix until the dough just comes together, no more than 1 minute. You do not want to over mix.

10. Add the crumbs and mix in for 30 seconds.

11. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Portion out the dough into large-ish balls (about 2-3 tbsp). Flatten the tops a bit with your fingers. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.

12. Put the cookies in the fridge for 1 hour, or up to 1 week.

13. When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 350°.

14. Arrange the cookies about 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

15. Bake for 13-18 minutes. They are ready when the edges start to be gold and the center of the cookie is starting to get color. They will seem soft, but they harden as you let them cool.

16. Let cool before serving. Then share them with friends and feel happy!

Messy level: 3 spoons. To make this cookie, you are basically making two recipes and that means a lot of dishes and a lot of chances for flour to fly. Glucose is really sticky and messy, eggs are drippy, and butter is greasy. It’s not the worst mess you’ll ever make but there’s potential. Give yourself time and try to be organized and it won’t be so messy!

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This weekend Ryan was in his friend Tommy’s wedding in Atlanta. We left on Thursday and stayed overnight with our friends who live in North Carolina.  They just moved into a beautiful new house with the most amazing kitchen. (To digress a bit, their kitchen is truly a dream kitchen with a huge fridge, two ovens, and a beautiful gigantic island. I wish I had taken pictures).  Anyway, it was wonderful to see them, their new home, and to catch up. We parted and I was so sad to leave them. I asked Ryan if when we come back if we could be their neighbors (and so I could have an awesome kitchen too).

Ryan and his oldest friends. The groom is second from the right.

Then we drove on to Atlanta for the wedding and spent the weekend with Ryan’s childhood friends and their girlfriends. It was such a blast hanging out, overdosing on sugary soda at the World of Coke, dancing, and spending time together. They are like family, we spend a week with them every summer at the beach, and it doesn’t matter if we do nothing or something we always have a good time.  And again Ryan and I thought, “why don’t we live closer to them? Let’s be their neighbors.” Sigh. All the people we are going to miss when we move.

So Saturday night after the wedding, I went to bed a bit weepy thinking, “tomorrow is the day things change.” Ryan and I drove straight back to Virginia (10 surprisingly non-painful hours), hung out in the apartment for a bit, and then I drove him to the airport. After such a long travel weekend, Ryan flew to London. He probably needed a cookie himself.

I drove home sad and feeling bad that I wasn’t going with him yet. Then I watched Walking Dead  by myself and after that normal apartment noises started to sound scary. I was feeling tired from the travel, blue about moving away from friends, and stressed about all the packing and prep still to be done.

Me and Ryan in bubbles at the World of Coke

But then I woke up this morning with a snow day, which eased my stress because I had time to clean and pack. The best part though was that I got to talk to Ryan. He looked really happy and in good spirits. He showed me around our flat (tiny but very cute). And it all became real – in a great way. The adventure has begun!! It’s real, exciting, wonderful and I had tons of energy to start packing. I know the nerves and worries will come back, but I’m super excited for my flight in a few days.

So you see, cookies were a must. These cookies are really delicious. I adapted this recipe from the one on the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag. I love these cookies because they are the right amount of chewy and firm. In the oven, the cookies spread a bit but still hold a little height which I think makes for a great bite. They are sweet, tasty, and addicting. So what’s going on in your life? Try to find a way to work some cookies into your day.

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt (I did not use table salt)

1 cup of butter (softened)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 brown sugar (I used light)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 12oz package of chocolate chips

Directions:

1. 20-30 minutes before you want to get baking, take the butter out of the fridge and leave it on your counter. Come back to it in 20-30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 375°.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed. This is going to make the butter really light and fluffy like whipped cream. You might think this is a long time, but I really like what the fluffy butter does to the cookies.

4. Add in the vanilla and mix until incorporated.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time. Don’t add the second one in, until the first is already mixed in. Beat until both are well mixed.

6. Gradually pour the flour mixture into the butter/egg/sugar mixture. I did this in four batches. Pour a bit, mix until that bit is 70% incorporated, then repeat.

7.  Mix in the chocolate chips.

8. Make balls of dough that are about 1.5-2 tablespoon in size. Drop on a cookie sheet and flatten the top just a bit.

9. Bake for 8-10 minutes (I did 8 minutes). You want the cookies to be golden and just a bit brown. Look how many cookies this recipe makes! It’s almost 4 dozen.

10. Dip in milk and be really happy.

Messy Level: One spoon. Cookies are so easy because you only need two bowls and one cookie sheet.

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