Delicious Corn Cookies - Momofuku Style

A stack of soft corn cookies.

Corn cookies. Who would think that these two little words would make so many people crave a bite of these soft corn cookies. The recipe for these particular corn cookies comes from the creative mind of Christina Tosi from Momofuku's Milk Bar. Their headquarters is located in New York City, but they recently opened a store in Toronto which is where I visited.

Corn Cookies from the Momofuku Milk Bar

Menu board at Momofuku Milk Bar

The most exciting part of the visit - a walk in refrigerator where all the baked
goods and cookie mixes are held! Every item is baked in the NYC bakery and then shipped
to all of their locations or even personally shipped to you if you so desired. 

All the ingredients for making corn cookies.

Ingredients for Corn Cookies (12-15, depending on size)

• 225g butter (2 sticks) at room temperature 
• 300g (1  1/2 cups) sugar
• 1 egg
• 225g (1  1/3 cups) flour
• 45g (1/4 cup) corn flour 
• 65g (2/3 cup) freeze-dried corn powder 
• 3g (3/4 tsp) baking powder 
• 1.5g (1/4 tsp) baking soda 
• 6g (1  1/2 tsp) kosher salt 

Baking Notes:

• Freeze-dried corn can be found at health food stores, MEC, Amazon, or from the Milk Bar's online store. If it comes whole, just process the corn through a food processor until finely ground. Keep it in the fridge in a air tight container.
• Corn flour is finely ground corn meal. I found my corn flour at Bulk Barn here in Edmonton or the Rob's Red Mill brand carries it as well. 

Directions for Corn Cookies

Sugar and butter inside the bowl of a stand up mixer. 

1. In the bowl of a stand up mixer, combine the butter and sugar using a paddle attachment.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed for 2 to 3 minutes. It should start to look fluffy and well combined.

Creaming the butter and sugar together on high speed for 2-3 minutes.

3. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the egg. 

Add 1 egg into the creamed butter and sugar. 

4. Beat the mixture for another 7-8 minutes. According to Christina Tosi, this is the most important step towards ensuring that the corn cookies you make at home look and taste exactly like the ones from their store. 

On high speed cream the sugar, butter and eggs for a total of 10 minutes.

The 10 minute creaming process yields this visual result.

5. Once the mixture is fluffy and white, reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the freeze dried corn powder, corn flour, four, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 

Add in the freeze dried corn while the mixer is on low speed.

Add in the rest of the dry ingredients. 

6. Mix until the dough comes together (about 1 minute). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and transfer the dough to a work surface.

Transfer the dough to a work surface.

7. Using a 1/3 cup measure, portion out the dough.

Measure out the dough using a 1/3 measuring cup.

8. Roll the dough into balls, then place them onto parchment paper. Leave space (at least 4 inches apart) between the cookies in order for them to expand in the oven. Pat the tops of the cookies flat. 

Roll out the measured dough into balls, then place onto baking pan (approx 4" apart).

 9. Cover the sheet pans tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (up to 1 week is possible). Again, Christina Tosi advises that these cookies been put in the fridge prior to baking in order to ensure that they bake properly. Do not bake from room temperature.

Cover the pan with saran wrap, then place the trays in the fridge for 1 hour.

10. After the cookies have been in the fridge for 1 hour or more, turn the oven on to 350F. Bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes. They will puff up and spread. They will be done when they are are still yellow in the middle, but has a bit of brown on the edge. Allow for another minute or two if they don't look completely baked.

Corn cookies expanding in the oven.

Corn cookies finished in the oven. 

11. Allow the corn cookies to cool completely on the pan before transferring them to an air tight container.

Corn Cookies cooling on the pan.

12. These cookies can be kept at room temperature for at least 5 days. They can also be frozen in the freezer for at least 1 month.

Finished corn cookies. Don't they look beautiful? Super tasty! Try them out! 

A Study in Homemade Cronuts Recipes - 1 Night, 3 Different Doughs, 1 Deep Fryer

Cronut with passionfruit glaze.

The cronut craze has everyone talking lately as it is essentially a croissant cut into a donut shape and then deep fried. Chef Dominique Ansel invented the cronut in his New York bakery in May 2013. Since then, everyone has either lined up in Chef Ansel's line for their requisite 2 cronuts or attempted to make a homemade version of cronuts. As I am unable to fly to NYC at the moment, my husband along with a few of our friends decided to try making some cronuts at home.

After some research we focused on two cronuts recipes. One from Dinner with Julie (DWJ) and another from Lorraine at Not Quite Nigella (NQN). We also made a third batch using pre-made Pillsbury croissant dough to compare with the two homemade cronut recipes. We made some thorough comparisons but if you like you can jump straight to the conclusion.

Homemade Cronut Dough From Not Quite Nigella (Dough 1)

The first dough that we made was the one from NQN. She has some excellent step by step photos on her site as well. The ingredients you will need for her recipe are pictured below.

Using a scale helps to accurately measure out all the ingredients.

Ingredients for Cronut Dough 1

• 7g (1 1/4 tsp) dry active yeast 
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) warm water 
• 4g (1 tsp) sugar
• 225g (1 3/4 cup) flour
• 9g (2 tsp) sugar
• 9g (1 1/2 tsp) salt
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) milk
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) oil
• 115g (1/2 Cup) unsalted butter

Directions - Dough 1 (NQN)

Ingredients for homemade dough 1

1. Prepare the yeast in warm water with a bit of sugar in a small bowl. Set aside in a draft-free place (we often place it in the microwave) so that the yeast and sugar can foam. 
2. Heat the milk (just until tepid), add the salt and rest of the sugar. 
3. In the bowl of the KA, add the flour, oil, yeast mixture and milk mixture. Mix it all together with the paddle attachment or with a spatula (if doing by hand).
4. Once all the ingredients are incorporated it will look like a free form ball.Place the ball of dough onto a floured surface and smack the dough onto the surface 8-10 times. 
5. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow it to rest for approximately three hours. It should triple in size. 
6. Follow the folding method on NQN's website for the butter and dough folding process.  

At the end of several folding/laminating here is what NQN's dough looked like right before we flattened it and then cut out donuts.

Super puffed up croissant dough right before the rolling & cutting process.

Homemade Cronut Dough from Dinner With Julie (Dough 2) 

The second dough we made from scratch was using DWJ's recipe.

Ingredients for cronut recipe 2. Main difference is the addition of eggs.

Ingredients for Cronut Dough 2

• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup milk (warmed)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour.

Directions - Dough 2 (DWJ)

See Instructions on Dinner With Julie's Cronut Recipe. Pictured below is the process of folding the butter into the dough - the laminating process.

The folding/laminating process. 

Homemade Cronut from Pillsbury Croissant/Crescent Rolls Can (Dough 3)

Lastly, we bought a can of Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough to see how it would compare to the homemade doughs. 

Ingredients for Cronut-From-A-Can (Dough 3)

• One Can of Pillsbury Crescent Roll
• Enriched Flour Bleached (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)
• Water
• Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil
• Sugar
• Baking Powder (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate)
• Contains 2% or Less of: Dextrose, Vital Wheat Gluten, Salt, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Potassium Chloride, Xanthan Gum, Artificial Flavor, Yellow 5, Alpha Tocopherol (to Protect Flavor), Color Added, Red 40.

*note* All this to say, is that clearly, Pillsbury uses a lot of oil! More about that oil later...

Rolling out the Pillsbury dough for cronuts.

Directions for Dough 3

1. Purchase Can from super market
2. Open Can
3. Unroll sheet
4. Cut donut shapes from sheet.

Comparisons between the Doughs

So, what you are probably really wondering is if there were any differences at all between all the doughs. Here are the blurbs! If you want to skip the explanations, continue scrolling through to look at the pictures! 

Differences in Directions

The directions are pretty similar to most homemade croissant recipes. We have made croissants before and both NQN and DWJ's recipe are very similar to standard croissant recipes. One striking difference is that NQN's recipe activates the yeast as opposed to DWJ where you simply mix the dry yeast without activation. After making both recipes, it didn't seem like activating the yeast made a significant difference in proofing time as both recipes require you to proof for a long time (approximately 12 hours). NQN also double-stacks her doughnuts after cutting making it noticeably thicker than DWJ's version. The Pillsbury pre-made crescent roll was very simple as it required no extra steps after opening the can and unrolling the sheet.

Not Quite Nigella's (Dough 1). Here you can see how the doughnuts
were double stacked prior to deep frying resulting in a thicker and fluffier look.

Differences in Ingredients

One noticeable ingredient difference between DWJ and NQN is that DWJ's recipe uses eggs in her croissant recipe while NQN does not. NQN's recipe also uses a slightly different amount of yeast as well. The Pillsbury's crescent rolls contain a few extra ingredients for preservation purposes but it has a noticeable inclusion of baking powder and partially hydrogenated oil (see notes on taste).

Dinner with Julie's cronut recipe after deep frying.

I asked each of the authors the reasoning behind their ingredients for their croissant recipe. Julie indicated that she was looking for a rich pastry dough with a specific mouth feel. Whereas Lorraine from NQN replied that she was focused on getting layers in her croissants while balancing the yeast content. 

Differences during Folding and Laminating

A good croissant requires a few laminations. Laminating dough is the process where you flatten the dough and fold it on itself. Lamination creates the flaky layers of butter and dough that we all love in a great croissant! Dan noted that DWJ's recipe was resistant to being rolled thin and stiffer in comparison to NQN's. We think it might be stiffness of the DWJ recipe might be due to the eggs. All that being said, Dan had a really good workout laminating the doughs several times.

Differences in Deep Frying
Deep-frying is a crucial and necessary step in making cronuts and while deep frying is relatively straightforward there were differences between the different doughs in hot oil. The Pillsbury cronuts literally inflated as they were put into the oil, and were squishy throughout the entire frying process, the Pillsbury croissant also stayed soft and squishy like a sponge soaking up oil. Both NQN and DWJ's croissants became stiff and crispy after being deep fried.

The Pillsbury cronut after deep frying.

Differences in Taste and Texture
Everyone agreed that NQN's cronut recipe seemed flakier (likely due to the dough's easier lamination and the double stacking prior to deep frying) and DWJ's cronut recipe was more cake like. On the other hand, the Pillsbury cronut tasted like a conventional donut, except oilier (possibly due to the significant amount of oil in the ingredients.

Conclusions

After trying out three different homemade cronut recipes, I really enjoyed the taste of Dinner With Julie's version; however the layered look in Not Quite Nigella's cronut recipe was aesthetically pleasing. I would recommend not rushing and taking the quick route of using Pillsbury ready-made crescent roll as it did not look nor taste anywhere in comparison to the homemade versions. I would consider making cronuts again using Dinner With Julie's version and double-stacking it. I would suggest making this with several people as they're best enjoyed fresh out of the fryer. As much as you would like to eat every single cronut and crobit yourself it's best for your health to share the task of making and eating with friends!

Homemade Pesto in 3 Easy Steps and Recipe Ideas

Salmon baked with pesto on a bed of quinoa. 

As I stare out the window here in Edmonton, I am quickly realizing that Fall is swooping in! With the colder days coming just around the corner, I enjoy making more hot meals for dinner. So, having a jar of fresh pesto on hand is perfect for adding a little more texture and flavour to a dinner item. Plus, with a basil plant like mine (pictured below), I need to keep making more pesto!

Basil plant!

Making your own pesto is quite easy and you only need a few ingredients. Having a food processor is also super handy. 

Making pesto: basil, toasted almonds, hard cheese, salt & pepper and extra olive virgin oil. 

Pesto Ingredients

• 1/2 cup basil
• 1/4 cup toasted almonds or walnuts
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 50g hard cheese cut into cubes (provolone/asiago/parmesan) 
• 1-2 cloves garlic (depends on how spicy you want it)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Add the basil, roasted almonds, garlic cloves, cheese, and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the food processor. 

Throwing all the pesto ingredients into the food processor. 

 2. Process all the ingredients together. Add more olive oil to the mixture if the pesto seems too dry.

Process all of the ingredients to make pesto. 

3. Turn on the food processor and blend all the ingredients together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once the mixture reaches your desired consistency (either chunky or more finely processed) you are ready to use the pesto. 

Close-up of the homemade pesto.

Ideas for Using Pesto

Make baked pesto salmon. After making the pesto, spread by the spoonfuls onto the salmon. 

Salmon topped with homemade pesto, ready for the oven.

Bake the salmon at 425F for about 15 minutes. This will also vary depending on the thickness and size of your salmon. 

Bake the salmon at 425F for approximately 15 minutes.

Serve the pesto salmon with quinoa for a tasty, yet fulfilling meal.

Baked pesto salmon on a bed of quinoa. 

Another option is to make thin crust pizzas and use the pesto as a topping. 

There are so many great options for homemade pesto. I also enjoy mixing it into pasta, spreading it like a condiment on burgers, hotdogs and sandwiches for lunch. I have also found that using toasted almonds in the pesto gives it quite a different taste compared to toasted walnuts. Try out the two types of nuts and see what you like better. What else would you do with pesto?