Change It Up

When I lived in New York City I was spoiled for choice in places to eat, cupcake shops, patisseries, coffee shops, cozy English style cafes, just about anything you can imagine. When it came to cookies though, one place that stood out, and earned repeat visits, was Milk & Cookies Bakery in Greenwich Village. Their Oatmeal Raisin Cookies were amazing and since they included raisins you could almost convince yourself they were healthy.

Until I discovered my favorite chocolate chip recipe at culinary school, the Milk & Cookies Chocolate Chip Cookies was my favorite choc chip cookie ever. There was just something about the texture that I couldn't put my finger on that made them superior to other chocolate chip cookies.

Milk & Cookies are also the only bakery I have ever discovered that marketed a packet mix that turned out cookies as good as the ones you could purchase in store. *shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone that I have used a packet mix or two in my time* If you aren't a baker, or don't have time to bake from scratch and can get your hands on these cookie mixes, do it, they do not disappoint.

 Once I moved away from NYC and no longer had a steady supply of Milk & Cookies cookies just a few blocks away, it became time to hunt down their secret. Thankfully they made it easy - they have an official cookbook.

And it turns out, the secret to their texture almost does make them healthier for you than a standard cookie, it's old fashioned oatmeal, turned into dust with a food processor.

The other secret to the choc chip cookies is that they do not just use choc chips. They also add chocolate shavings, making the chocolate flavor infuse throughout the cookie rather than just in chunks when you encounter the chips.

This week when I decided to bake a batch, I realized I had no chocolate shavings but I did have a Terry's Chocolate Orange. I decided that shaving the chocolate orange with a vegetable peeler would not only be a great replacement for the shavings but would also add some extra subtle flavor to the cookies.


The addition of the orange infused chocolate added a depth of flavor and next time I might try this again with the addition of some orange zest or candied orange peel to add some more texture variations while enhancing the flavor of the chocolate.

So next time you are baking cookies, think about branching out and varying the kind of chocolate you use, switching it up can enhance the flavors and inspire ideas for future experimentation.

Cheers,
Joo