Momofuku Blueberries & Cream Cookies

After the epic ramen dinner party on this past Monday, it only made sense to include a dessert from Momofuku Milk Bar. When I went into NYC to meet up with Y, the Milk Bar was one of the required stops - I had heard all sorts of hype, as had she. We had to see if it lived up to expectations! And oh goodness, did it. More sugar, butter, and eggs than you can shake a stick at. Seriously, I have a pretty incredible sweet tooth, and it took one bite of crack pie for me to call it quits that night. Although that might have been because of the ridiculous amount of spicy sausage and rice cakes I had during our dinner at Ssam Bar...

But no worries. I had come to NYC prepared, with only a carry-on but enough room to take a good amount of treats home to NC. So J and I made our way back, proud owners of two different kinds of cake balls (chocolate malt rolled in milk crumbs = yum, birthday cake shellacked in sugary glaze = meh) and half a dozen cookies. Obviously, compost cookies were one of the flavors, but we also got a corn cookie and two of these blueberries and cream cookies.

 Whoa though. You know the best part about that whole trip? It wasn't the cookies, or the H and H bagels. It wasn't the trip to Zabar's or the breakfast at Locanda Verde. Well, it was, and it wasn't. You see, this marks the end of my third year of blogging. The start of my fourth. And I can't even believe that I could have guessed, three years ago, that I would be booking a last-minute flight to a city to meet someone who I've just talked to on-line. I mean, how crazy weird is that? It's also, well, crazy awesome. The friendships I've made have sustained me through some pretty rough times and have contributed some amazing times as well.

So here's to an amazing 2011, an amazing fourth year of blogging, and taking chances on those crazy people we call blog friends.

Oh yeah, and these cookies? Make them. Seriously, they're totally worth it.
 
Blueberries and Cream Cookies
from Bon Appetit

4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp light corn syrup
2 large eggs
5 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups milk crumbs (recipe below) (I used the entire recipe's worth of crumbs, not just 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups dried blueberries (I used 2 cups because I felt the batter needed more)

Combine butter, both sugars, and corn syrup in the large bowl of a stand mixer. Using a paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until fluffy and pale, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and beat on medium-high speed until sugars dissolve, about 10 minutes. You'll want to scrape the bowl every few minutes and make sure it doesn't decide to dance off your countertop. At this point, unless you have a professional stand mixer, you'll want to do what I did - transfer the butter-sugar mixture to the largest bowl you have. Once there, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Add in the milk crumbs and mix until they're distributed. Do the same with the blueberries, mixing just until they're evenly distributed throughout the dough. The dough will be very sticky.

Using a large cookie scoop or a 1/4 cup measure (spray the inside of the cup measure occasionally to keep the dough from sticking), portion out the cookie dough onto an unlined cookie sheet. Stick them right next to each other, since this is just so that we can chill the cookie dough before baking. You'll be transferring the dough to lined baking sheets for baking. You should get somewhere between 36 and 40 dough balls. Cover them with plastic wrap and chill for at least 24 hours, or up to 2 days.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 375*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer 6 dough balls to the sheet, placing at least 4 inches apart, since the cookies spread quite a bit. Keep the rest of the dough in the fridge, only taking it out just prior to baking. Bake for 17-22 minutes, until golden brown and just this side of gooey in the center. Transfer cookies gently to a rack to cool. Now, you can either wait for the baking sheet to cool before baking the next batch, or do what I did. I took a second cookie sheet, lined it with parchment paper, and alternated cookie sheets for each batch so that each sheet had about 20 minutes to cool before being used again.

Cookies should be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Milk Crumbs (makes ~2 cups)
from Bon Appetit

3/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1/2 cup flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp kosher salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a medium bowl, combine milk powder, flour, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add the butter. Using a fork, gently toss the mixture until large clumps and clusters form. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and evenly spread the crumbs over the sheet. Bake until crumbs are dry but not browning, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool before using. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature if not using immediately.