Milk Bar Compost Cookies; crisp-but-chewy cookies crammed with chocolate chips, coffee, pretzels and potato crisps. Are they actually any good??
Greetings, bakers and cookie lovers!
Today is the start of a new little series (also seen on my YouTube channel) in which I’ll be testing out pre-packaged baking mixes to see if they’re worth your time and money. We’re kicking off with a world famous recipe from the bakery’s nifty little cookie mix. Will it be worth it?
TO WATCH ME MAKE THE MILK BAR COMPOST COOKIES ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL, CLICK HERE!
What are we making?
We begin this new series with the Milk Bar Compost Cookies.
These cookies are just as mad as their name suggests. They contain everything from ground coffee and butterscotch chips to salted pretzels and crisps. The creative genius behind Milk Bar, Cristina Tosi, conjured them up and they have been a bestseller in locations all over the USA ever since.
My good friend Rich, owner and baker behind The Cookie Mill, kindly brought me back this Compost Cookie mix from a recent trip to the USA. I got to baking immediately.
From what I understand, these Milk Bar Compost Cookies should be chewy, with crunchy bits, and they should blend together that classic pairing of sweet and salty.
Good value?
4 out of 5
This Milk Bar Compost Cookies mix retails at $16 on Milk Bar’s online store, which is the equivalent of around £12 at the current exchange rate.
The mix claims to make 12 Compost Cookies which means that you’re only paying around £1 a cookie. While this is likely much cheaper than the cost of an actual Compost Cookie from a Milk Bar store, it still seems like quite a steep price for a baking mix.
I will say though, the ingredients included in the Compost Cookie mix are of decent quality. You’re not just talking about flour and sugar. The two separate packets of dry ingredients include malted flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coffee and more. The mix is a well-thought out balance of ingredients for premium taste and texture.
Overall, even though you’re only getting one batch of cookies for your £12, I’d say it’s nothing crazy considering the contents of the package.
User-friendly?
3 out of 5
My rating falls a little here.
Firstly because the recipe itself tells you to use a mixer on low speed to make the cookies. While this is fine for the few of us who have free-standing electric mixers, most of us don’t. It could have done with being a bit clearer here for novice bakers.
Secondly, it describes the mixing of the butter with the first packet of dry ingredients as “moistening.” This is a term I’ve never come across in a recipe. Does that mean creaming together vigorously? Does that mean gently mixing together until it resembles breadcrumbs? It’s not the clearest of instructions for experienced bakers, let alone novices.
Other than that, the recipe is pretty good. It tells you exactly what size to make the cookies, how far to space them apart, how long to bake for, and what to look for when they are baked. Ultimately, I got a good and even batch of cookies from it.
Result?
4 out of 5
The cookies baked exactly as the recipe said they would. A little puffed up in the middle, and gently browned around the edges.
The texture, for me, even fresh from the oven, was perfect. The edges were crisp, but gave way to a wonderfully dense and chewy core. Punctuating the chewiness was the melting goo of chocolate chips and the welcome crunch of those savoury elements. Once cold, the cookies were just as good, developing even more deliciously addictive chewiness.
However, the taste was undeniably disappointing. With so many ingredients I expected these to be a carnival of flavour. Honestly speaking, the only thing I could really taste was the ground coffee. Even as a coffee lover, I couldn’t really forgive this. I couldn’t detect the pretzels, crisps, butterscotch chips or oats in anything but texture. Both warm and cold, the results was the same, a chunky coffee cookie.
If this had been sold as being coffee flavoured, I would have rated it very highly. Unfortunately though, I think the initial appeal of these Milk Bar Compost Cookies is lost in its flavour.
This Milk Bar Compost Cookies mix certainly was not disappointing. It produced a good-looking batch of cookies with a great texture in very little time. There was no waiting around forever for the dough to chill or bake. The flavour did let them down a little, but generally they were enjoyable.
Next time I’ll be baking with a baking mix that’s more readily available in the UK – in between publishing more of my own recipes for you lovely folks. Have a great week!
