Home-Baked Goods - Momofuku Cornflake Crunch Cookies and French Pear Pastry

There have been a couple of home-baked items I’ve made over the past few months with the promise to share recipes afterwards…. I’m admittedly quite late with these, but here goes!

Two popular items:

1) Momofuku’s cornflake crunch cookies that I made for Victoria’s party in November and

2) French Rissole Pastries (pear puff pastry treat)

Let’s start with the cookies that were a hit in November! Here are all the happy people that celebrated the announcement of Victoria’s Baby Boy! I got a few requests at this party to share the recipe (sorry it took so long!)

This recipe taught me the importance of READING ALL the directions beforehand – make sure you budget a few hours for this one. You need to make a “cornflake crunch” first, then let that cool and use the finished concoction as an important key ingredient for the cookie batter.

Poor Jen – she and I were on big baking kick and she came over to make these together with me. But by the time the cornflake crunch cooled, she had to go home and never got to try the grand finale of cornflakes, butter, chocolate and marshmallows coming together in a delightful sticky mess. It was really funny though, when I opened the door to my apartment to let Jen in, and standing before me was this petite woman, holding a gigantic super sized box of cornflakes that covered half her body!

“This size was on sale!” she exclaimed. Apparently she got a lot of comments on the way over on how she must LOOOVEEE cornflakes. Conclusion – we will be making these again in the coming months..

Background – Momofuku is a group of restaurants owned by chef-founder David Chang – a powerful brand and empire; successful restaurants with michelin stars and a multitude of accolades. He’s been listed as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People and co-hosted a show with Anthony Bourdain (well-known American chef, author and television personality). Momofuku branched off with a bakery called the “Milk Bar” run by Christina Tosi. My friends have tried various items from Momofuku and this was my attempt at having my own taste of this East Coast gem from the comfort of my home.

The Recipe can be taken straight from their website – http://milkbarstore.com/main/press/recipes-and-how-tos/ (but keep reading for my tips >>>> )

cornflake-chocolate-chip marshmallow cookies

makes 15 to 20 cookies

i am neither brave nor bold enough to make just a chocolate chip cookie. everyone’s mom or grandma makes “the best” chocolate chip cookie. and every one of those chocolate chip cookie recipes is different. so, out of respect, we dared not compete. instead, we made a delicious chocolate chip tribute cookie—one of our most popular cookies—by accident.

in the ko basement one day, mar over toasted the cornflake crunch for the cereal milk™ panna cotta. she was pissed. i was pissed. but we refused to let it go to waste. i was already well versed in making a cookie out of anything left in the pantry, and we needed a dessert for family meal anyway. so we made cookies with the cornflake crunch, and we threw in some mini chocolate chips, just to make them appealing to the cooks in case the over toasted cornflakes were a bust, and some mini marshmallows, because we were eating them as a snack, and why the hell not. it was just family meal.

the cooks freaked. they requested the cookies for family meal every day after that. and so the cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow cookie was born—love at first bite and a shoo-in on milk bar’s opening menu.

225 g (16 tbs) butter, at room temperature
250 g (1 1/4 cups) granulated sugar
150 g (2⁄3 cup tightly packed) light brown sugar
1 egg
2 g (1/2 tsp) vanilla extract
240 g (1 1/2 cups) flour
2 g (1/2 tsp) baking powder
1.5 g (1/2 tsp) baking soda
5 g (1 1/2 teaspoons) kosher salt
3/4 recipe (3 cups) cornflake crunch (recipe below)
125 g (2⁄3 cup) mini chocolate chips
65 g (1 1/4 cups) mini marshmallows

1. combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg and vanilla, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes.

2. reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. (do not walk away from the machine during this step, or you will risk over mixing the dough.) scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

3. still on low speed, paddle in the cornflake crunch and mini chocolate chips just until they’re incorporated, no more than 30 to 45 seconds. paddle in the mini marshmallows just until incorporated.

4. using a 2 3/4 oz ice cream scoop (or a 1/3 cup measure), portion out the dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. do not bake your cookies from room temperature—they will not hold their shape.

5. heat the oven to 375°f.

6. arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment- or silpat-lined sheet pans. bake for 18 minutes. the cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. at the 18-minute mark, the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown toward the center. leave them in the oven for an additional minute or so if they aren’t and they still seem pale and doughy on the surface.

7. cool the cookies completely on the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or to an airtight container for storage. at room temperature, the cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.

cornflake crunch

makes about 360 g (4 cups )

this recipe was originally created to accompany the cereal milk™ panna cotta. it was one of those first-swing, home-run hits. it is incredibly simple to make and equally as versatile in its uses. put some in a plastic bag and take it on the go as the best snack ever, or use it as an ingredient in the recipes that follow.

170 g (1/2 12oz box or 5 cups) cornflakes
40 g (1/2 cup) milk powder
40 g (3 tbs) sugar
4 g (1 tsp) kosher salt
130 g (9 tbs) butter, melted

1. heat the oven to 275°f.

2. pour the cornflakes in a medium bowl and crush them with your hands to one-quarter of their original size. add the milk powder, sugar, and salt and toss to mix. add the butter and toss to coat. as you toss, the butter will act as glue, binding the dry ingredients to the cereal and creating small clusters.

3. spread the clusters on a parchment- or silpat-lined sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes, at which point they should look toasted, smell buttery, and crunch gently when cooled slightly and chewed.

4. cool the cornflake crunch completely before storing or using in a recipe. stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the crunch will keep fresh for 1 week; in the fridge or freezer, it will keep for 1 month.

**TIPS**

I’m just gonna say it – the times and temperature ABOVE are WRONG. Which is why I BOLDED them. I don’t know what it is about the oven they use but I just couldn’t get their instructions to work without being a goopy mess. That’s why in my above picture, the cookies were “cut”. I didn’t get beautiful circular cookie results, rather they flattened out and melted into one another, so I had to slice them like bars.

With a some trial and error, I reduced the temperature AND the baking time.

I used the comments section of other bakers online to do some research –> http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow-cookies

I saw other people had better luck at reducing to 350 and only baking for 8 – 10 mins. Also, it’s key to freeze and chill your dough and blend the batter for the appropriate time!

Check at the 8 min mark, and go by colour.

SEE!? MY COOKIES WERE already melting!! Let’s be real, even if the shape isn’t a perfect circle, these will still TASTE AMAZING!

And everyone will ask you for the recipe 🙂

Speaking of recipes, I also got asked a lot about

Eric’s mom’s French Rissole recipe.

Posted these on my instgram awhile back:

Monique sent us home after Christmas with a large jar of these pear preserves she had made (I love her!!!) so that we could easily make our own rissole treats.

Ingredients:

Reduce pears (no added sugar!) and then wrap in puff pastry 🙂

It’s a real labour of love, as the pears used here were reduced on low heat for a whole afternoon.

The puff pastry I used was an amazing find and time saver – thank you President’s Choice!

Even pastry chefs who review this product online have said it’s similar to the real thing without all the hassle and work!!

– “Flaky Buttery Goodness: I used to work as a baker, and this product is by far the best pre-made puff pastry you can find. I use it at home because it’s not worth the time and effort to make it in small quantities, and it comes very close to homemade.”

– “Best you can buy: I actually make special trips to Loblaws to get this puff pastry. I love that it actually has some real butter in it (would be even better if it were only butter, but hey, I’ll take what I can get!). I also love that it’s pre-rolled. I hate rolling out puff pastry because it usually looks like a demented chipmunk danced all over it in a failed attempt to get it even. So this stuff is great. Pre-rolled and tastes better than the others. Awesome for the cook who doesn’t want to invest hours in homemade puff pastry!”

I left the pastry out on the counter to thaw for a couple hours than unwrap it.. I love that it is already unrolled! I then scored it lightly so I could easily see where the pear puree needed to go.

The goal was to make 8 per puff pastry sheet.

Then I simply folded it over and pressed the two pieces together.

I had to cut them into 8 individual pieces after, and placed on parchment paper.

Baked as per the box directions 🙂

Delicious and no added sugar! Fresh out of the over!

Now I’m gathering some props for food styling 🙂

I guarantee both of these will be a hit at potlucks and parties!!

For more of my home-baked goods posts, check out my High Tea Party Recipes (with scones, lindzer cookies and tea sandwiches) or my Cupcakes Post – recipes perfected using science and many taste-testers!.

Or the complete Hello Kitty Baby Shower Dessert Table that I made all from scratch with cake pops, sugar cookies, chocolate-covered strawberries and more.!