Momofuku Cornflake-Chocolate-Chip-Marshmallow "Cookies" :: Toffee x Cookie Time

I finally now have in my possession, copies of the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook. Yes, copies plural. My love of all things Momofuku is so widely known that I've made it dead-simple for people to shop for me. To all of you that gifted me with the Milk Bar cookbook, one million thanks to you. I will probably need all 3 copies, somehow, someway. 

People rave about the compost cookie and everyone is obsessed with the cheeky crack pie. Those are amazing, yes. But me? I love the Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies. It is everything I love in a cookie. Super chewy, super buttery, not too chocolate-y and has a nice texture. So naturally, when I got the book, I flipped right to this recipe and started gathering everything I needed. 

 

And that didn't take very long since I had everything but cornflakes on hand. This is a pretty basic cookie recipe...sort of. Before you start creaming your butter and sugar, you have to make the Momofuku Cornflake Crunch. Basically, you toss a box of cornflakes with sugar, milk powder, salt and melted butter, then bake until you get golden brown crispy clusters. It's not hard, just an extra but necessary step. If you've been to Milk Bar, this is the stuff they crumble on top of their soft serves as a salty-sweet topping. And yes, you can just eat it plain. I know because I've tried. 

After you have the cornflake crunch, it's pretty easy. I would highly recommend refrigerating the dough for at least 3 hours. The book says just 1, but these cookies spread like a motha'f*#%^ in the oven. Mine came out a little funky texture wise: crispy like toffee on the edge but gooey and cookie-like in the middle. Not necessarily a bad thing though! I brought a batch on a ski trip over the weekend and we renamed these "Tookies". 

Here's the recipe online, but get the book! It's filled with a lot of great stories and recipes.

Snickerdoodles :: Apparently Just an American Thing

I've been baking a lot for my office lately. For one thing, I think my coworkers deserve better treats than Restaurant Cravers Pringles and bread stick crackers on the snack counter. But it also gives me a great outlet to bake like crazy but not get diabetes by eating up a whole batch of cookies before they go bad.

I made Snickerdoodles from the Flour Bakery cookbook last week and they turned out great. That book is amazing. The response in the office to this particular batch was interesting. The Americans nearly jumped out of their seats to grab one, swooning over how much they loved Snickerdoodles. The non-Americans all sent me messages like "What is that?" and "A Snickerwhuddle?" and "Why's it called that?" Both responses surprised me. I like Snickerdoodles but they're such a simple cookies, I didn't think anyone would go ga ga over them. I also didn't expect anyone to question them and look at me like I'm playing an evil trick on them. It's just a cookie, man. Chill out.

Here's the recipe I emailed to an inquiring coworker:

Snickerdoodles

114g room temperature butter

150g white sugar, plus about 30g for coating

1 room temperature egg

175g flour (I prefer a half and half mix of bread (strong) and cake (weak) flour but just one or the other would work too) 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt (basically a pinch) 

1 tsp cream of tartar 

30g cinnamon

30g white sugar

1. Using a standing or hand mixer, cream the butter and 150g sugar until light and fluffy. About 5-8 minutes. Or you can use a wooden spoon, but this will take about 10-15 minutes. がんばってね！

2. Beat in the egg on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until it is thoroughly combined. Remember to use a rubber spatula to make sure all the butter and sugar a the bottom of the bowl is mixed in too. 

3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tar tar. On slow speed or with a wooden spoon, mix in the flour mixture just until all the flour is mixed in. 

4. In theory, you're supposed to fridge the dough over night so that the butter and sugar flavors really absorb into the cookies. But who has the patience? You can get away with just putting it in the fridge for a few hours, but I think the dough needs somewhat chilled before you bake so that it's not sticky and they don't spread too much. 

5. Mix the 30g sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Using a spoon, scoop up some chilled dough and roll into a ball in your hands. Roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar mix and place the ball on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. The size depends on how big you want your cookies to be. When I made this recipe, I had about 22 cookies. 

I like lots of cinnamon and sugar, so I dip the balls in the sugar mix a second time just before going into the oven. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes at 180C or until the edges are golden. Let them cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before moving to a plate to cool. 

Merry Christmas! :: Cookie City

Merry Christmas from Tokyo! Apparently my family is having a big German Christmas dinner back in California. Me? I just ate a 5-piece Chicken McNugget kids meal set for lunch and am baking my last batch of Christmas cookies from Blammo and Company. Last week, I decided to give some homemade holiday cookies to friends and coworkers. It. Was. Crazy! But fun too! When I was growing up, our neighbors, the Hendersons, always gave us a tin of Mrs. Henderson's homemade Christmas cookies.They were so delicious and unlike anything I'd ever had before. The memory stuck in my mind and I've always wanted to carry on the tradition. 2010 marks the beginning of my cookie tin holiday giveaway. 

This event began on December 6th, with some pre-planning. I took out all my cookbooks, bought the Martha Stewart Holiday Cookie magazine and looked up all those Google Reader starred recipes I'd been eyeing all year. I think my first list of cookies was 13 recipes long. Eventually, that got whittled down to the final 6. Then came all the converting - Martha is not metric friendly. The flour cookbook came in handy because throughout her book, she lists how many grams X amount of sugar, flour etc. weighs. And this butter conversion website is a lifesaver. 

The plan was to make my staple chocolate chip cookies, 2 icebox cookies that could be made days in advance, 1 stovetop treat and something classically Christmas. The decision to do 2 icebox cookies was my saving grace since they're so easy to make and can be made up to a month in advance. You can freeze the doughs in logs and when you're ready to bake, you just slice and go. Martha has a genius suggestion of saving you paper towel rolls to store the logs in so that they don't flatten out at the bottom. It worked like a charm. 

Brown butter rice crispy treats (Flour cookbook), cranberry coins (Martha Stewart Magazine) and buttered rum meltaways with no powdered sugar topping (Martha Stewart Cookie Book). 

Chocolate chip cookies (my own recipe adapted from The NY Times), gingerbread men (Martha Stewart Cookies) and buttered rum meltaways with powdered sugar (Martha Stewart Cookies). 

I couldn't fine suitable tins anywhere in town, so I got these egg carton looking boxes and did what I could to jazz them up and make them my own. Not to shabby, I have to say. 

Our apartment's reception desk and my coworkers got extra big boxes thanks to Ziploc Snap 'n Seal tupperware. 

Me on the way to work carrying about 150 freshly baked cookies. 

My coworkers and friends seemed to enjoy the treats however, I get the sense that people don't bake and share in Japan as much as back home. It was almost expected that people bring in treats once and awhile at my old office in NY. I think it mostly confused people here. 

I had a lot of leftover cookies, so I've been passing them out to local restaurants we frequently visit. It's been really fun to share a little American tradition. 

To top off my 2nd Christmas in Japan, I made a raspberry chocolate Buche de Noel at ABC Cooking Studio. ABC Cooking Studio friend and I have never taken a cake class so this was a lot of fun for us.

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tokyo Five Foot Runner :: Week 2

Week 2 is in the books. I ran a little over 15 miles this week including a long run of 10K/6.2 miles today. The weather turned cold for a few days, but dry enough to run outside, which is all I really care about. Yesterday, I had to cross train for 40 minutes. I chose to use an elliptical at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Sendagaya. No membership needed. It's 420 yen to use their gym for 2 hours and there are showers and hot baths. I haven't used an elliptical since I lived in NY so I was shocked to learn how BORING it can be. I'll need to think of a different cross-training activity because that was grueling on the mind.

This week, I successfully signed up to use a women's only running station near the Imperial Palace, my normal running spot. I'm very particular about my running routine. I prefer to go running right after work, but that requires me to change in a public bathroom and put my stuff in a coin locker. Not a big deal, but running stations are much more convenient since you have a few amenities to help you freshen up after your run. I've learned over the past few months, that being visibly sweaty and gnarly isn't very welcome on the trains. There are a few stations around the Palace and other popular running areas, but ABC Cooking Studio has a relationship with a ladies only gym called Bodies, which I learned upon arrival, is the Japanese version of Curves. The Bodies branch in Marunouchi, just a few steps away from the Imperial Palace running route also serves as a running station where you can store you stuff for 500 yen a visit. A little more than a coin locker which is 300 yen, but way more convenient.

So, what have I been fueling myself with this week? Maybe not the healthiest stuff, but definitely tasty stuff! I've vowed to start eating a little more healthy in the weeks to come and thankfully, since Joanne Chang is a pretty hardcore runner, she included some somewhat healthy treats in her Flour cookbook.

This burger tasted a lot less guilty this week. 

ABC Cooking Studio Bread of the Week :: Cinnamon Swirl Bread. This is a good opportunity to point out one of my favorite kitchen purchases of late - a bread cutting board. It came with a serrated knife that fits into the board for storage, and the grated top comes out so you can dump out the crumbs inevitably made when slicing bread. GENIUS!

A made quite a few cookies this week. Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin. 

 So many, that I had to give some away. I packed a few up in some incoherently cute wax bags and dropped them off at our front desk reception desk. I like our building staff - they're friendly and pretty helpful. Squidward overheard an angry Englishman telling them off this morning, so it seemed like homemade cookies might brighten their spirits. 

And upon our return home, we were greeted with the best thank you card I've ever received. Ever.