Milk Bar Blueberry and Cream Cookies

When I visited Momofuku Milk Bar at the end of June, I got a whole goodie bag full of cookies, but sadly, blueberry & cream was not one of them! This was one of the cookies I helped make, though, so my interest was piqued. It’s one of the first recipes I’ve made from the book. I’ve made this cookie twice, both times because I had lots of blueberries on hand, and I don’t really like muffins, so I wasn’t sure what else to do with them. The original Milk Bar recipe actually calls for freeze-dried blueberries, so if you have those or want to buy them at Whole Foods, use them! They are supposed to distribute the blueberry flavor more evenly, since they are so small compared to real blueberries.

Here is a small note from my friend Margaret:

I confessed my feelings to this boy I like today and he was really nice about it so even though nothing will happen between us, I’m still happy 🙂

Thanks for sharing, Margaret!

The moral of the story is, always be honest! If I were to confess my feelings to these cookies, I would tell them they are gigantic and incredibly soft and beautiful and I love them in every way. I would say they taste exactly like the best blueberry muffins in the world, and I would confess that I ate all of the cookies in the batch minus like three.

Before actually making the cookie dough, you need to make milk crumbs, which are crunchy, crumbly bits formed from milk powder. The dry milk I buy is actually not in the form of powder yet, so I whir it around in a food processor for a minute. The crumbs are baked for twenty minutes and smell buttery and delicious. Sometimes I sub in melted coconut oil for the butter, with no loss in flavor. The cookies only use half a recipe of milk crumb, so save the rest to make a cake or another batch of cookies or for your own personal use (i.e. eating them by the handful all at once), or you can halve the recipe given. When you make the actual cookies, don’t skip the refrigeration step!! Refrigerating the cookies is essential for them to bake right!

Milk Crumb

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk powder
1/4 cup flour
2 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbs butter or coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup milk powder
3 oz white chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F and line a cookie tray with parchment or foil.
With your hands, toss together the milk powder, flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Add the melted butter and continue to toss with a spatula, until clumps begin to form.
Spread the clumps onto the cookie tray and bake for 20 minutes. Cool them completely.
Crumble any clumps bigger than 1/2 inch in diameter and gather all the crumbs in the bowl. Toss in the 1/4 cup milk powder until all the crumbs are evenly coated.
Pour the melted white chocolate all over the mixture and toss until it is evenly distributed. Continue to toss the crumbs every five minutes until they are no longer sticky.
Stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer, the crumbs are good for up to a month.

Blueberry & Cream Cookies

Ingredients

16 tbs butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup glucose or 2 tbs corn syrup
2 eggs
2 cups bread flour or 1 cup bread and 1 cup all-purpose
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup + 2 tbs Milk Crumb
3/4 blueberries, freeze-dried or fresh

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugars, and glucose on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the eggs. Beat for another 7-8 minutes. The mixture will be fluffy, pale, and twice the size of the original butter-and-sugar mix.
On low speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, about 30 seconds. Do not walk away from the mixer, or you will miss it! Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add the milk crumbs and mix just until incorporated, no more than 30 seconds. Do the same with the blueberries.
Use a 2 3/4 oz ice cream scoop or a 1/3 cup measure to portion the dough onto cookie trays lined with parchment or foil. The cookies are big, so spread them out- theres should be about 4 inches between each pile of dough on the cookie tray. Cover the trays in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to a week.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake for 18 minutes. The cookies will be bright yellow in the center and browned on the edges. If they are pale, bake them for another minute.
Cool completely on the cookie trays and transfer to a plate or airtight container. They will be fresh for 5 days at room temperature or a month in the freezer.

Conclusions:

My absolute favorite thing about Milk Bar cookies is how soft they are. The long ten-minute creaming process fluffs up the butter, sugar, and eggs so they bond in a specific way, allowing air pockets to form as the cookie bakes and resulting in a cookie that is crispy on the outside and almost underbaked in the center, in a dreamy way that only Milk Bar cookies are. On top of the texture, the flavor is pretty original. I’ve made blueberry cookies before, but I don’t think it’s too common. Both times I made this recipe I used fresh blueberries as opposed to the freeze-dried ones Tosi calls for, so it’s good to know you can fool around with it a little. I wonder if you can make these cookies with other berries, like strawberries or raspberries. Maybe strawberry cookies with chocolate crumb? I’m getting the biggest craving for these just writing this!