If you're ever in New York City, one of the bakeries you've got to try is Christina Tosi's Milk Bar. They're known for their out-of-the-box creations like crack pie and cereal milk infused soft serve. During my last two trips there I tried the soft serve and the birthday cake. But another one of their famous treats is the Compost Cookie, also known as “everything but the kitchen sink” or "garbage" cookies.
Basically, what you do is throw in half of your random pantry items and turn them into a cookie! A delicious hodgepodge combination of savory and sweet.
“Everything but the kitchen sink” cookies
Milk Bar's cookie is stuffed with pretzels, potato chips, graham crackers and ground coffee. But being in Hong Kong, my pantry has a different mishmash of goodies. So, I switched up the add-ins and turned this recipe into an Asian snack monster cookie.
Snacks I added:
Mamee Noodles – If you grew up in Hong Kong, you definitely ate these on rotation. Plus, you gotta love the iconic blue Mamee monster. I haven't a packet in years, but I ate some today and felt like kid again. Smashing up the instant noodles is pretty fun. I didn't add the seasoning packet because the noodles are already slighted flavored. They added a great crunch!
Korean Honey Butter Nuts – These nuts are all the rage. They're coated in a creamy butter and sweet honey crust. So. Good. It's dangerous keeping them around because you really can't stop with just a handful. You will eat the entire bag.
Dried Seaweed – I actually used to not like seaweed growing up. But now I think it's such great thing to munch on – it's salty, crunchy, and low in calories. The seaweed flavor in these cookies is quite subtle but adds a hint of that elusive umami goodness. I like using roasted sea salt seaweed but any kind works. Don't skip it!
Salad Pretz – The Asian version of pretzels and another childhood favorite. The salad flavor is a classic (but doesn't taste like salad at all) and also super addictive.
All these add-ins are just what I used and you can totally swap them out for whatever you have on hand. The recipe is flexible like that and fun to play around with. You can make all kinds of snack monster cookies. I might try rice crackers and Pocky next time!
Two Versions of the Snack Monster Cookie (pick your favorite):
I made two versions of this recipe: the original, chewy version and a soft, fluffy version.
Has 1 egg, corn syrup, less flour and bakes for 16 minutes.
Has 2 eggs, cornstarch, more flour and bakes for 12 minutes.
The two recipes are almost identical except for a few key things as listed above. But these changes make all the difference! I don't know the exact baking science behind it but i do know that corn syrup makes cookies chewy and cornstarch makes them soft.
The Original Chewy version spreads quite a lot and is more like a thin chewy disc. While the Soft & Fluffy version doesn't spread very much, remaining smaller and thicker. It was fun experimenting with them and doing a lot of taste testing along the way! I personally liked the softer version, because I enjoyed being able to pick out the different textures more easily, but my husband liked the chewier one! So, I decided to post both!
Other Notes:
Both versions of the recipe can be halved. I've tried it with no problem.
Storage:
- Baked cookies - Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Cookie dough - Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
If you tried both versions, let me know which one you liked more!
Asian Snack Monster Cookies (The Original Chewy)
Ingredients
- 225 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter softened
- 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 150 grams (2/3 cup) brown sugar dark or light
- 50 g (2 tablespoons) corn syrup
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 225 g (1 1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 140 g (3/4 cup) chocolate chips
- 40 g (1/3 cup) old fashioned rolled oats
- 140 g (1 cup) chopped Korean Honey Butter Nuts* almost the whole bag
- 60 g (1 cup) crushed Mamee noodles* the whole packet
- 70 g (1 cup) crushed Pretz salad flavor* two packets
- 4 g (5-10 sheets) of dry salty seaweed* torn up
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream the butter, both sugars and the corn syrup until light and fluffy. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Using your spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla and egg.
- Either turn your mixer to the lowest setting or switch to mixing by hand (what I normally do), and slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. Be careful not to overmix!
- Add “everything but the kitchen sink”: the chocolate chips, old fashioned oats, honey butter nuts, Mamee noodles, Pretz and seaweed. Mix until evenly incorporated, being careful not to crush things up too much.
- Refrigerate your dough:- Either put your bowl of cookie dough directly in the fridge, refrigerate for at least 2 hours.- Or line a baking sheet with parchment paper and measure out 50g balls. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. Don't skip the chilling!
- Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Place the chilled dough portions a good 4 inches apart on the parchment-lined sheet pans because they spread quite a bit. I had to do several rounds because my oven is tiny and I only have one tray.
- Add a few extra crushed Pretz, seaweed bits and chocolate chips to the tops of the cookies for garnish, if you like.
- Bake until the cookies are browned on the edges but still soft in the middle, about 15-18 minutes. You don't want to overbake, so err on the shorter time. Mine were best around 16 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on sheet pans for about 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Now it's time to snack away! I like to eat them while they're still slightly warm in the middle, but firm enough that they're not falling apart.
- These cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Notes
Asian Snack Monster Cookies (Soft & Fluffy)
Ingredients
- 225 g (1 cup) unsalted butter softened
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 150 g (2/3 cup) brown sugar dark or light
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 360 g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 10 g (4 teaspoons) cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 140 g (3/4 cup) chocolate chips
- 40 g (1/3 cup) old fashioned rolled oats
- 140 g (1 cup) chopped Korean Honey Butter Nuts* almost the whole bag
- 60 g (1 cup) crushed Mamee noodles* the whole packet
- 70 g (1 cup) crushed Pretz salad flavor* two packets
- 4 g (5-10) sheets of dry salty seaweed* torn up
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Using your spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla and eggs.
- Either turn your mixer to the lowest setting or switch to mixing by hand (what I normally do), and slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. Be careful not to overmix!
- Add “everything but the kitchen sink”: the chocolate chips, old fashioned oats, honey butter nuts, Mamee noodles, Pretz and seaweed. Mix until evenly incorporated, being careful not to crush things up too much.
- Refrigerate your dough:- Either put your bowl of cookie dough directly in the fridge, refrigerate for at least 2 hours.- Or line a baking sheet with parchment paper and measure out 50g balls. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. Don't skip the chilling!
- Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Place the chilled dough portions a good 4 inches apart on the parchment-lined sheet pans because they spread quite a bit. I had to do several rounds because my oven is tiny and I only have one tray.
- Add a few extra crushed Pretz, seaweed bits and chocolate chips to the tops of the cookies for garnish, if you like.
- Bake until the cookies are browned on the edges but still soft in the middle, about 12 minutes. You don't want to overbake, so err on the shorter time. Mine were best around 16 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on sheet pans for about 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
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