I love muffin tops! No, not the kind you get from wearing jeans fresh out of the dryer but the kind you might find in a bakery. You know, the ones that you eat. I don’t know what it is about a muffin top: maybe it’s that combination of the slight crispy-crunchiness yet soft cakey texture and the fact that you can break it into small bite sized pieces and not have it fall apart. Or maybe it’s just me. I like Oreo cookies but not so much the cream center. Shocking I know. So I was intrigued when I came across this recipe for Blueberry Cream Cookies. Creator Christina Tosi describes the cookie as being like the top to a blueberry muffin. Even though I hadn’t eaten this cookie on my last trip to Milk Bar, I have enjoyed her other recipes such as her bagel bombs and Compost Cookies so I definitely wanted to give them a try.

Now this is a recipe within a recipe so there are a few more steps but it is worth the extra work. You start off by making the milk crumbs which is basically a combination of dry milk powder, sugar, flour, melted butter and a bit of white chocolate mixed in. It doesn’t sound like much but oh boy, oh boy is it ever tasty!

The result? It really is like having a muffin top but in cookie format. I could eat these all day. I gave a few out to friends and they were enjoyed by all. Even the die-hard chocolate chip cookie fans were impressed. That has to count for something! This recipe is most certainly a keeper and one that I’ll make again. Why are you still here? Go print out this recipe and make these cookies already!

Question of the day: What are some of your favorite cookie ingredients?

Blueberry Cream Cookies
(Yield: 12-14 cookies)

Ingredients:

Milk Crumbs:

• 1/4 cup milk powder
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons milk power
• 1.5 oz white chocolate melted

Blueberry Cream Cookies:

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cups light brown sugar, tightly packed
• 1/4 cup glucose
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• Milk Crumbs (see recipe above)
• 3/4 cups dried blueberries

Directions:

Milk Crumbs:

• Preheat the oven to 250F
• In a medium bowl, add 1/4 cup milk powder, flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt and use a spoon or your hands to combine the dry ingredients.
• Add the melted butter and stir with a spatula until a mixture comes together and small clusters begin to form.
• Spread the mixture on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and bake for about 20 minutes. The mixture will have a sandy texture when it’s ready. Make sure the crumbs are completely cooled before proceeding to the next step.
• Break apart any milk crumb pieces that are bigger than 1/2″ and place into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of milk powder and toss together until it is thoroughly mixed.
• Melt the white chocolate and mix together with the cooled milk crumbs until all the crumbs are completely coated. Continue to mix every 5 minutes until the chocolate mixture hardens and is no longer sticky.

Blueberry Cream Cookies:

• In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar and glucose. Mix on a medium high-speed for 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl at the end.
• Add the eggs and mix for another 7-8 minutes. (** This creaming process creates a flat crispy crackly cookie. If you want a softer chewier cookie, reduce the mixing time)
• Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl and mix on low just until the dough begins to come together. This should take no longer than 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• With your mixer on low, add the milk crumbs to the mixture until combined. Follow with the dried blueberries and mix until just combined.
• Use a 2 3/4 oz ice cream scoop or a 1/3 cup measure to portion out the dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Pat the tops of the cookie dough balls flat. You’ve finished portioning out the cookie dough, wrap the sheet in plastic and refrigerate the dough for a minimum of an hour (or up to a week).
• Toward the end of the chilling time, preheat the oven to 350F.
• Place the chilled cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet and arrange them so that they are a minimum of 4″ apart. Bake the cookies for approximately 18 minutes or until the cookies are slightly browned around the edges. They should still be yellow in the center.
• Once cooled, the cookies should keep at room temperature for 5 days but can also be frozen for up to a month.

Recipe notes: I like my cookies flatter and crispy. If you want a puffier, softer cake-like cookie, don’t press down and flatten the cookie. You can also reduce the mixing time for creaming of the butter, sugar and eggs and keep the cookies refrigerated overnight to reduce the spread. If you don’t have glucose or can’t find it, you can substitute 1 tablespoon of corn syrup.

(Source: Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook by Christina Tosi)