Christina Tosi of Momofuku’s Milkbar is magical and offers what I want to call nostalgic goodies. Except, I didn’t have Funfetti cake until college, so I’m not sure that’s quite right. When I did have it, I was never that impressed with the taste. These cookies offer the flavor I wanted with the appearance, sugary, buttery, with a somehow colorful tasting burst. The reason it’s nostalgic, I think, is because it tastes as good as it does. When you’re young, and don’t have the freedom of eating cookies for breakfast or ice cream for dinner, sweets are treasured. Half of their goodness is the weighted expectation, the time you have to wait, the terrible vegetables you need to finish in order to consume just one treat! Not to mention the THINGS YOU’VE NEVER TASTED. This is why Little Debbie treats or ice cream Drumsticks are never quite as perfect as you remember. These cookies are though. They are better.
TO NOTE: These cookies require an ingredient that needs to be baked, and the dough MUST chill for at least 2 hours before baking the cookies. So if you’re looking for a cookie to bring to the party in two hours, these aren’t it. But if you think ahead, you should probably bring these to your party.
ALSO, while this recipe provides both weights and cup measurements, if you’ve got a scale USE IT. (Except for measurements less than 5 grams…easier and safer to grab a spoon for those).
ADDITIONALLY, the first time I made these I felt like they needed chocolate, but when I added mini chocolate chips, it no longer seemed necessary. I guess I’m undecided. If you tend to need chocolate, than you know your answer. If not, try it without.
FINALLY, I was a little wary of the glucose, but it’s hard to not give it most of the texture credit. I’ve never made a cookie like this before. When they’re fresh out of the oven and you touch the center they sound like cellophane crinkling. Which is odd, but as it turns out, perfection.
Birthday Cake Crumb
From Momofuku Milk Bar, by Christina Tosi
100 g granulated sugar – ½ cup
25 g light brown sugar – 1 ½ tablespoons tightly packed
90 g cake flour – ¾ cup
2 g baking powder – ½ teaspoon
2 g kosher salt – ½ teaspoon
20 g rainbow sprinkles – 2 tablespoons
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40 g grapeseed oil – ¼ cup
12 g vanilla extract*** – 1 tablespoon
Oven: 300°F
Sheet pan: parchment or Silpat
Combine sugars, flour, baking powder, salt and sprinkles in a stand mixer with paddle attachment on low-speed until well combined.
Add oil and vanilla and continue to paddle on low-speed until you get small clusters. No larger than pea size.
Pour clusters onto lined sheet pan and spread out to one layer.
Bake about 20 minutes, checking every 7 minutes or so, breaking the larger pieces up and lightly stirring the crumbs.
They will color a little but if they are gently approaching a light brown, remove immediately.
Let cool completely before used and store in an airtight container (for a week, freezer for a month.)
***According to Tosi, you need clear vanilla extract for the perfect flavor. And honestly, I believe her, but I couldn’t find it locally and forgot to order it from Amazon ahead of time. And you know what? My good ol’ brown extract worked just fine.
Confetti Cookies
Adapted (slightly) from Momofuku Milk Bar
15-25 cookies depending on scoop size
225 g butter, room temperature – 16 tblsp (2 sticks)
300 g sugar – 1 ½ cups
50 g glucose – 2 tblsp
2 eggs
8 g vanilla extract*** 2 tsp
400 g flour – 2 ½ cups (AP OR whole wheat pastry flour)
50 g dried milk powder – ⅔ cup
9 g cream of tartar – 2 tsp
6 g baking soda – 1 tsp
6 g kosher salt – 1 ½ tsp (I upped this a little, the salt hit the sugar so well)
40 g rainbow sprinkles
50 g mini semisweet chocolate chips * optional, but just gives a little it of chocolate. The first time I made these I craved that addition, I might rather a melted chocolate on top
½ recipe (about 1 cup) Birthday Cake Crumb
Oven: 350°F (Though dough needs to be refrigerated before bake)
Sheet pan: parchment or Silpat
In your stand mixer add sugar, butter and glucose, sugar first. Cream together with paddle attachment on medium high for 2-3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl and add eggs one at a time, with 1 tsp vanilla each time. Cream each egg until about combined, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom. Once eggs are added beat for 7-8 minutes (don’t skip this!)
The texture of the butter mixture will change, it should result in a very pale yellow, and will be slightly shiny (nearly incandescent, but not quite). The mix will also double in size and is visually light and fluffy.
Give your mixer bowl a solid scrape to be sure the bottom is entirely incorporated and add the flour, milk powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, sprinkles and chocolate chips if using. Mix on low and just until the dough comes together. No more than 1 minutes, and when I’ve counted it’s been closer to about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides and again on low add birthday cake crumbs.
I like a 2-inch ice cream scoop, which makes about 55g (little less than 2 oz) cookie dough balls. The ORIGINAL recipe is for a 2 ¾ oz scoop which is equivalent to about a ⅓ cup, this is great for a substantial bakery cookie. But when you have a bunch of large cookies and you find yourself eating them…you may want a smaller cookie. Portion out the dough onto a parchment lined sheet, pat down tops to flatten domes. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours or up to a week.
Heat oven to 350°F
Arrange cookies about 4 inches apart (they do spread so watch OUT) on parchment sheet pans. Large cookies – bake 18 minutes, smaller, check at 10. Cookies will turn a VERY light brown on the edges, golden brown on bottom. Cook an additional 2 minutes if cookies are still pale and doughy on the surface. They should make a crinkling sound when you press gently in the middle.
Cool completely, will keep for 5 days at room temp or 1 month in the freezer. Which I have to take Tosi’s word for, because they were gone long before then.