Momofuku Compost Cookies Veganized

Easily the most inspiring cookbook I read in August was the Momofuku Milk Bar book by Christina Tosi. The food photography is stunning. Every recipe is totally original and innovative. The whole book is beautiful from cover to cover. While many of the recipes would be a tad bit tricky to veganize with all the gelatin and milk powder and what not, the compost cookies caught my eye right away. All the flavors and textures are magical. I didn't make them the way suggested since I had already just filled my rice crispy treats with potato chips, so I upped the amount of graham cracker crumbs and pretzel bits. I am glad I didn't make a half batch like I normally do with cookies, because these flew off the sheet tray almost before I had time to properly photograph them. It doesn't matter what you have in your pantry, it will work in these cookies.


Momofuku Compost Cookies Veganized
original recipe here!

1 cup Earth Balance
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tbl corn syrup
1 Ener-G egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup crushed graham crackers
1 1/3 cup crushed pretzels
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 tsp malt powder
pinch of ground coffee

Beat Earth Balance, sugars, and corn syrup in a mixer until combined. Add prepared Ener-G egg and vanilla extract. Beat several minutes until fluffy. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda to mixer bowl. Beat until just combined. Add all the mix-ins. Using a large ice cream scoop, portion out the cookie dough & slightly flatten the tops. I piled all the scooped cookies into a tupperware lined with parchment. Chill the dough overnight. Bake at 375 for 18 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm & browned.


If you haven't heard of Mind of a Chef yet, it's a PBS show (also on Netflix)featuring David Chang, who opened Momofuku Noodle Bar. While some of it's really interesting, the show has a lot of footage revolving around meat so I tend to skip through them when something comes up I don't want to watch. Towards the end of the season Christina shows up in the show. She makes a burnt miso apple pie in episode 13 (Soy), and all of episode 14 (Sweet Spot) is centered around her recipes! It's worth watching for just her techniques. It really makes me want to invest in acetate strips for making layer cakes. Look at this beauty! There's a few other Milk Bar recipes I think I might make my way to eventually. Those blueberries & cream cookies sound pretty great. And an Arnold Palmer cake! I highly suggest checking out the cookbook if you are looking for a little inspiration or if you are thinking about opening your own bakery someday. Her story will motivate you.

Malted Pretzel Brownies

I have a confession to make. I am someone who loves box mix brownies. I have never made a brownie from scratch that I thought compared to the box mix version. I like my brownies directly in the middle of fudgy and cakey. I am just hard to please. Because of this, I don't make brownies very often. I had seen a photograph a few months ago of brownies baked into cookie cutters to give as gifts and thought it was genius. I set out to make a batch of brownies to fill all my favorite cookie cutters with. As I started pouring the batter in, I realized it was all leaking out from the bottom of the cutters. Even though they were flat on the cookie sheet, there was nothing to hold the batter in and keep the cutter from starting to float a little. I tried taping parchment around the bottom but it still didn't really work. I got one successful cookie cutter brownie, but it wasn't even cute enough that I felt compelled to take a picture of it. Lesson learned: if you can only find one picture of something on the whole wide interweb, there is probably a good reason that no one else has recreated it.
So as I quickly realized that I didn't need a whole batch of brownie batter to fill the cookie cutters, I decided to bake the rest like normal and work off another idea. In comes the the white chocolate pretzel brownie from Vegan Treats. I had two of these in Philadelphia last month, and I haven't been able to get them out of my mind since. They were just their standard brownie topped with buttercream with the lightest hint of cocoa, ganache, and the chocolate covered pretzel. I had already fallen in love with the malted buttercream I made, and thought it would work well with a salty pretzel. I was definitely correct. Eating a whole square of these brownies was a feat, but I did accomplish it. The rest were slowly nibbled away at in bits and pieces over several days.

Soft Pretzels

These pretzels are making me thirsty! I had to say it. I couldn't not say it. I mean c'mon. I hear it in my head every time I eat a pretzel. If you have a standing mixer with a dough hook and a few spare hours, then you should give these a shot.
I don't know why people feel like soft pretzels are so elusive. At the last bake sale that I did, they were the first thing to sell out. Pretzels really aren't difficult. The folding just takes a little bit of finesse. But after a few dozen, you'll be throwing the dough around like any Auntie Anne's employee. Heck, you don't even have to shape them like standard pretzels. Get creative. Spell your name or make your favorite sport's team's logo or just make circles. They will all taste just as good.
Most pretzels recipes are pretty similar. My recipes of choice is Alton Brown's, just substitute the butter and the egg wash for Earth Balance. But do melt the Earth Balance you're using for the egg wash step. This is one time when I really prefer weighing the flour. Doughs can be a little finicky, and it's just easier to know that you aren't too fair a hand with the flour. I also know a few people who like to throw a teaspoon or two of vital wheat gluten into the dough, but I don't find it necessary.
If you want to make a fancy snack platter with the pretzels, you could make a few dipping sauces. Maybe an agave dijon or a cheddar cheese sauce? Either way, you won't regret your foray into the saltier side of things.