Milk Bar Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

When we were in New York last year, one of the places I had long marked at stop at was Milk Bar.  I had first heard of them when my brother-in-law got one of their cookbooks from the library many years earlier and showed us the recipe for Compost Cookies.  I forgot about them for a few years until my friend Monica posted the recipe for those same cookies on her blog shortly before our trip.  Milk Bar quickly made our food list (which was mostly bakeries at that point...nothing wrong with that!  We walked constantly so carbs were necessary!). 

When we stopped (and waited in a decent line, just for cookies) Matt and I both tried the heralded Compost Cookie and Luke had a birthday cake cookie (sprinkles are irresistible to kids) and declared them all delicious, as we sat eating them in Central Park.  (We will most definitely be doing this again on our next trip.)  I've since made the Compost Cookies at home (which may have been quicker than waiting in that line) and they were delicious. 

Why am I talking so much about the cookies I didn't make?  I don't know, sometimes I feel like I just sit at the keyboard and ramble type.  But more to the point, I had good memories and associations with other Milk Bar cookies so when this recipe popped up on my Pinterest I thought they sounded good to try.  I'm not going to be one to turn down a good chocolate chip cookie.  And these were good.

A thing I reallllly like about this recipe: you don't need a mixer, it can all be done by hand.  I have a stand mixer, a pretty new one actually that is a beautiful blue.  BUT sometimes it's nice to not have to drag the whole thing out and clean it up afterwards (as if cleaning just a mixing bowl is different from the mixer bowl).  It just seemed quicker and easier to make cookies by hand...instead of using the machine that does most of the work (I don't expect anyone to understand my logic).  So we mixed up these cookies and enjoyed them greatly. 

Even though we didn't eat these in New York they still, slightly, took me back to our trip and made me a little itchy (itchier) to go back.  If you're looking to change up from a standard chocolate chip cookie or just take a break from the mixer, well, here you go.   (And maybe we'll try these on our next trip to Milk Bar, purely for scientific, comparison reasons.)

Milk Bar Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
yield: about 18-20 cookies
Ingredients
-½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and just warm to the touch
-¾ cup packed brown sugar
-½ cup sugar
-1 egg
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-1¾ cup AP flour
-2 TB nonfat milk powder
-1¼ tsp kosher salt
-½ tsp baking powder
-¼ tsp baking soda
-12 chocolate chips or chunks
-kosher or flaked salt for sprinkling

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 375°.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

2) Using a wooden spoon, stir together the sugars in a large mixing bowl then add the melted butter.  Stir vigorously for about a minute or a little longer.  Mix together the egg and vanilla in a measuring cup or small bowl and add to the sugar/butter.  Stir until it gets all glossy, about a minute.

3) Separately mix together the flour, milk powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder then add to the sugar/butter/egg.  Stir just until combined.  Add the chocolate chips/chunks and stir just until evenly distributed.

4) Portion out into balls about the size of golf balls, spacing about 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheets.  Sprinkle with kosher or flaked salt.  Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the edges are golden brown but the centers are still soft.  Let cool on the baking sheets and then transfer to a wire rack.  

 
Source: Foodie Crush