Milk Bar Compost Cookies

Ever since I tried the compost cookie that @annatreasure made at one of Anna’s infamous dinner parties, I have been meaning to make some. So after months of reading about compost cookies on other delicious blogs and also missing out on the real deal, I made some. Imagine a cookie where you can chuck in chocolate, leftover M&Ms, crisp and even coffee grounds. I did follow the recipe that I grabbed from Amateur Gourmet quite religiously. I took out the corn syrup and added honey instead. And of course, used my own choice of naughty snacks!

By the way, I didn’t end up using all of these snacks. Left out the cherry ripe and kinder. Next time.

Snacks

Ingredients (Makes 20 – 24):

• 120g of butter
• 90g of sugar
• 85g of brown sugar
• 1 heaped tsp of leatherwood creamed honey (optional) or just honey
• 1tbsp of vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 200g of flour
• 1tsp of baking powder
• 1/2tsp of baking soda
• 1/2tsp of sea salt
• 300g of junk food (I used oreos, leftover dark chocolate, wasabi peas, cashew nuts and almond picnic bar)

Look at my crushed and battled snacks.

Crushed up snacks

BE WARNED. The batter is so delicious! I had no problems in licking the spatula and scraping the sides off the mixing bowl. YUM!

Delicious batter

DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.

Little cookie doughs

Method:

1. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and honey on medium high for two to three minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides with a spatula.
2. On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate.
3. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size
4. When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
5. Mix 45 – 60 seconds just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula
6. On the same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30 – 45 seconds until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated
7. Using a ice cream scoop (I’m not sure how many ounces mine is, but it worked well), portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan. I actually used a ceremic soup soon.
8. Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour or up to 1 week
9. Heat the oven to 400 F. Take the plastic off your cookies and bake 8 to 11 minutes. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread
10. At 8 minutes, the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don’t match up and your cookies still seem pale and doughy on the surface.
11. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan (good luck!) before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, they’ll keep five days.

Jeroxie's compost cookie

I did burn the bottoms of the first batch that went in. Damn you OVEN! But the second batch turned out ok. I loved how the chocolate bits were stilll googey. But that only happens when its fresh and baked that day. I should have bashed the cashew nuts more. It was too chucky. Actually, I think I will leave it out. The wasabi worked pretty well. There are loads of combinations that you can come up with. It is a fun cookie to bake. And of course I will do it again.

Check out the other compost cookie inspirations from fellow bloggers:

• Almost Bourdain
• Momofukufor2
  

What combination of snacks will you have in your cookie?