Compost cookies

Welcome to another instalment of ‘why I love Christina Tosi.’ We’ve already covered off two of her classics – the Birthday Cake, and the Crack Pie, and now it’s time to tackle the famous Compost Cookies®. (And yes, they’re even trademarked, that’s how popular they are.)

As it seems to be with Christina’s inventions, these cookies were made up with whatever was in the pantry. She might not have had enough chocolate chips to make chocolate chip cookies, so threw in other mix-ins so people would never notice the shortage of one ingredient. The cookies sold at Milk Bar contain her favourite snacks – chocolate and butterscotch chips, potato chips, pretzels, graham crackers, and coffee. It is an awesome combination! And you can easily change it up depending on what you have in your pantry.

I had trouble finding butterscotch chips (you can sometimes find them at US food stores, like Martha’s Backyard) so I decided to caramelise white chocolate chips. Excellent decision, they are amazing! And I have never made a cookie that contains the crumbs of another cookie, another excellent decision! With every mouthful being a salty, sweet, crunchy explosion, these are phenomenal cookies!

Start this recipe one day ahead, or allow one hour for chilling, at the very least.

* if you are caramelising white chocolate, you will need 100g white chocolate chips

Ingredients

For the cookies

225g butter, cubed and at room temperature
200g white sugar
150g brown sugar
50g liquid glucose
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
225g bread flour (I used high grade flour, see notes)
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
150g chocolate chips
100g butterscotch chips (or white chocolate)
40g rolled oats
2½  teaspoons ground coffee
50g potato chips
50g pretzels

For the graham crust

80g graham cracker crumbs (see notes. I blitzed my crackers in the food processor)
10g milk powder
15g white sugar
15g butter, melted
30ml cream

Method

Get the caramelised white chocolate started first. Preheat your oven to 125°C and spread the chips in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for around 1 hour, checking every 15 minutes. I didn’t stir mine. I probably could have taken them a bit further but I had to do the school run.

 

Make the graham crust

Toss the cracker crumbs, milk powder, sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt with your hands in a bowl, to evenly distribute the dry ingredients.
Whisk the butter and cream in a small bowl and add it to the dry ingredients. Toss until small clusters form and set aside. Set it aside somewhere where you will see it, so you don’t leave it out of your cookies like I did!

Make the cookies

Line several trays with baking paper and set aside.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugars and glucose on medium-high for 2-3 minutes.
Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the egg and vanilla. Beat until very pale and fluffy, about 7-8 minutes.
Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture. Mix until the dough just comes together, no longer than 1 minute.
With the mixer still on low speed, add the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, graham crust, oats and coffee. Mix until just combined and then add the pretzels and potato chips and mix until those are just incorporated. Don’t overmix or you’ll break up too many pretzels or chips.

 

Scoop portions of dough using a 70ml icecream scoop (I didn’t have one so used a 1/3c measuring cup) onto the trays lined with baking paper. Pat tops of the cookie domes flat. I made one tray of large cookies, and the rest was scooped into about 1/3 of the size.

 

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to one week. I left mine overnight, it was very hard.

Do not bake your cookies from room temperature – they will not bake properly.

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Arrange the cookies 16cm apart and bake until faintly browned on the edges yet still yellow in the centre (about 18 minutes, I baked my smaller cookies for 12 minutes.) The cookies will puff, crackle and spread. Cool completely on trays.

Store in an airtight container for 5 days, or in the freezer for one month.

Notes

• Recipe is 100% Christina Tosi.
• If you don’t have graham crackers, you can use digestive biscuits instead.
• You need to use a

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