Corn Cookies

Christina Tosi's decadent desserts, like crack pie and compost cookies, have been all the rage the past couple of years. I've never actually been to Momofuku Milk Bar in New York to eat pastry chef Tosi's desserts, but I jumped at the chance last year to sample five of her cookies when South Philly's Green Aisle Grocery started overnighting Milk Bar cookies in from New York. (Haven't seen a tweet about Milk Bar cookies from Green Aisle in a long time, so not sure if Green Aisle is still getting them in.)

From my taste test, I concluded that Tosi makes great cookies, if not a little too sweet and greasy. The standout cookie from the bunch, though, was the corn cookie. Oh man, is Milk Bar's corn cookie good! It tastes somewhere between a sugar cookie and the sweetest summer corn you've ever had. The secret to getting that sweet corn flavor is corn powder. What's corn powder, you ask? Nothing more than freeze dried corn, that's been pulverized into a powder in a blender or food processor. If you can't find freeze dried corn in the snack section of Whole Foods or some other similar grocery store, you can always order it on Amazon. Tosi unleashed her recipe for corn cookies last year in a issue of David Chang's quarterly magazine Lucky Peach, as well as in Tosi's new cookbook Momofuku Milk Bar. The recipe for corn cookies is even posted on the Amazon page for Tosi's cookbook, so the cat is long out of the bag. I've had this recipe bookmarked for quite a while, but had to 1) procure freeze dried corn, and 2) get over the holiday hump of mega indulgence. The original recipe calls for two sticks of butter, which, really, isn't out of the norm for a batch of cookies, but in recalling how I felt her cookies were way too greasy, I cut out just two tiny tablespoons of butter from the recipe to great results. The cookies are still very buttery, but not sickly so. Next time I bake them, I might try to get the recipe down to one and a half sticks of butter.

I also measured the cookie dough out into uniform sizes, which is something I never do. And, would you believe it, the cookies all came out consistently sized and looking professional! Might have to be more exacting in my baking in the future.
Corn Cookies
adapted from Momofuku Milk Bar
makes about 13 to 15 cookies

14 tablespoons butter, at room temperature (original recipe uses 16 tablespoons)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 1/3 cups flour
1/4 cup corn flour (I used fine corn meal)
2/3 cup freeze-dried corn powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

• Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the egg and beat for 7-8 minutes.
• In another bowl, add all of the remaining ingredients and stir until just mixed. (I used my hands to mix the rather thick dough together.)
• Measure out uniform scoops of cookie dough (I measured 1/4 cup scoops, but original recipe calls for 1/3 cup scoops), pressing the tops of the dough balls down slightly, and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Wrap baking sheet with cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least one hour, and up to a week before baking. It's very important to start with chilled dough when baking these cookies!
  
• Place chilled dough about 4 inches apart on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 18 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven, or until the edges are slightly browned.
  
• Cool cookies on a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
  

Ritter Sport Milk Chocolate with Cornflakes

There's just something about Ritter Sport squares that makes them better than the average chocolate bar. I'm not sure if it's the square shape, the boldly basic packaging, or the plethora of flavors that appeals most to me, but I'm pretty hooked.

Although it's not a cereal I tend to reach for at the store, I do like Corn Flakes. They're quite versatile! One of my favorite comfort foods is cheesy potato casserole with corn flake topping - so healthy, right? But this is my first foray into chocolate with cornflakes!

Here's a bit of Halloween promotional fun from Ritter Sport: they are having a giveaway for fans who use their online application to send Halloween e-cards. Check out this entry at the Ritter Sport blog for details on how to use the application and enter to win a box of 84 Ritter Sport minis. Ritter will be giving one away every day until November 6!


The bar looked fresh and appetizing, and I especially loved the bumpy bottom texture from the cornflakes. It smelled mildly of cocoa, and the milk chocolate certainly was mild here. The cornflakes cut down on the creamy, sticky feeling of the chocolate (which suits me just fine).

While they didn't add much in the way of flavor (just a hint of vegetable sweetness), the texture the cornflakes brought to this bar was great! The crunch was different from that of puffed rice or wafers, and the cornflakes seemed very fresh (not stale or soggy). The bar was a little on the sweet side for my tastes, but if I'm ever in the mood for crunchy milk chocolate, I might pick this one up again!

B+

Ritter Sport website

Information on the Ritter promotion was sent by a PR representative, and Ritter Sport is hosting the giveaway - not me. It did not influence my review in any way, nor did I receive anything in exchange for blogging about this promotion. Luckily, I just happened to have a Ritter Sport square on deck for review!

Nestle Hokkaido KitKats

Nestle Japan is out of control. Pictured above are two limited edition KitKat bars from Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four islands. The flavors are Roasted Corn (above) and Potato (below).

That's right. I'm not sure why, but for some reason, these flavors seemed weirder than soy sauce flavor. But, I had to try them, so I ordered some online. My husband and I tried them right away.


Potato flavor seemed tamer, so we tried this one first. I had heard that it tasted like chocolate covered potato chips. The bar itself smelled like potato, and tasted like extremely salty white chocolate. It was very buttery, too, and had a light potato taste in the wafers. The main flavor seemed to be butter. I didn't really care for this one. At least it wasn't too sweet. C+


Seemingly the weirder of the two, we tried Roasted Corn next. It didn't really smell like corn at all, just white chocolate. The taste was again very buttery. It did taste like corn, but maybe just in the sense that some people put so much butter and salt on corn on the cob that you can hardly taste the corn anymore. It was hard to tell. But again, the main flavors were butter and salt. Still, I liked this one better than the potato. B-

These flavors were, obviously, for novelty. They certainly were fun to try, but I do kind of look forward to sharing them with friends because I won't have to eat any more of them. Plus, it should be funny to watch their faces.

KitKat Website (Japanese)

Chermoula Butter

Summer’s almost outta here and I’m shedding a tear. I love the heat and hate the cold. My fingers, toes, nose, and ass? get cold the second the thermometer hits 74º. I sniffle non-stop until next spring. I’m an annoying, whining, sniffling ice cube for six months straight. I have to listen to annoying, whining, sweating people the other half of the year, so it’s all fair.

With the end of summer I say goodbye to my favorite vegetables. Bye tomato. Bye cucumber. Bye Okra. Bye corn. Bye green beans. Love ya. Miss ya. See you next year.

The peak corn season is past for most of us, but you might still be able to find a few local ears of sweet corn. If you like butter on your corn (I like mine straight-up), here’s a Moroccan influenced chermoula butter to slather it with.

Chermoula Butter

1 stick of butter, softened
1tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
zest and juice of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon paprika
2 garlic cloves, crushed
¼ cup cilantro, chopped

• Place softened butter in a bowl and mix the remaining ingredients into the butter.
• Place butter in a serving bowl or wrap butter in plastic wrap and roll into a log.
• Chill butter in refrigerator until hardened.
• Skip the serving bowl and refrigeration if you just can’t be bothered about presentation and are ready to eat that corn right now.