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Compost Cookies are a sweet and salty treat made from whatever combination of treats you can pull out of your pantry. These cookies are always unique!
Compost Cookies is a funny name. They are made with a combination of salty and sweet snacks from your pantry leftovers. And they are delicious. This cookie is both crisp and chewy as well as sweet and salty. A totally fun combination.
These crazy and delicious cookies originated from the Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC. It’s the same place that amazing Chess Pie I shared originated from. They are called compost cookies because you pretty much throw in whatever you have in your cupboard.
Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour
- Granulated Sugar
- Light Brown Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter
- Corn Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Kosher Salt
- Chocolate Chips or Candy
- Pretzels or Salty Treat
How to Make Compost Cookies
- Salty Treats: you will need 1 1/2 cups of your favorite salty snack food such as pretzels, chips, Frito, etc. Whatever you have in your pantry. I used pretzels, potato chips and fritos.
- Sweet Treats: you will need 1 1/2 cups of your favorite sweet treat such as chocolate chips, M & M’s and candy bars. Once you have dug out whatever is in your pantry, you are ready to go. This is the perfect opportunity to use up some of those opened bags of treats that tend accumulate in the pantry. I used chocolate chips, white chocolate and a candy bar I had on hand.
- Step One: Beat together the sugars, corn syrup and butter for 2-3 minutes until it is pale and fluffy. The corn syrup makes for a chewier cookie. If you don’t have corn syrup the cookie will work fine without it.
- Step Two: Mix in eggs one at a time and vanilla. Beat dough for 5 minutes with a stand mixer or 10 minutes with a hand mixer. This allows the sugar to fully dissolve, the mixture will become a pale color and your creamed mixture will increase in size.
- Step Three: Add in dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Step Four: Add in sweet and salty add ins. Mix these just until they are combined. I usually just pulse the mixer a few times.
- Step Five: Cover dough and refrigerate for an hour to overnight. I have baked these cookies without refrigerating and they turned out great, just slightly thinner but still delicious!
- Step Six: Place dough on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes at 350 degrees F. until edges turn golden brown and center is still pale. Do not overbake.
So get creative and come up with your own combination of Compost Cookies.Â
Some of my other favorite cookies include:
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Compost Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter unsalted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp corn syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips or a combination of any sweet candy or treat you have on hand such as candy bars like Twix, Raisenettes, Rollos, Cocoa Krispies
- 1 1/2 cup pretzels or a combination of salty treats such as chips, pretzels, fritos, nuts etc.
Instructions
- Mix with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for two to three minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color
- Turn down the speed to low and add eggs and vanilla
- Turn up speed to medium high and beat for 10 minutes
- This allows the sugar to fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size
- After 10 minutes add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
- Mix for about another minute just until your dough comes together
- Do not over mix at this point
- At a low speed, add in the baking ingredients and mix for 30 – 45 seconds until they evenly mix into the dough
- Add in your favorite snack foods last, beating at low low speed until they are just incorporated
- Using a 6 oz. ice cream scoop, make balls of cookie dough and place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. You will get 18 cookies making them this size, for more cookies, make them smaller.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour or up to 1 week. I have baked these cookies without refrigerating the dough and they worked fine, a little thinner but still a great cookie.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F for 9-11 minutes. The cookies should begin to brown around the edges and be pale in the middle
- Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don’t match up and your cookies still seem pale and doughy on the surface
Ellen says
OMG!!!!! I made prepared these yestereday and baked this morning. These are incredible. This is the second batch of made and used different “junk” (compost) each time. These were by far the BEST. Some of this and some of that (raisenettes, twix, kit-kat, skors, milk duds…..all cut up, of course. And, pretzels chopped.) AMAZING!!!!!!!! Last time I used a few different things but these were better. Did I say……AMAZING!!!!!!!! Baked them for a friends party and better get them outta here fast!!!!!!!!!
Leigh Anne says
So glad you enjoyed the cookies. The fun part is how they turn out a little different each time you make them. I love experimenting with different ingredients. Thanks!
Zupan's Markets says
YUM! Those look great!!
Charlie says
I cannot wait to try these! A friend of mine always talks about Compost Cookies from Momofuko, and I have never been so I have never been able to try them. I will definitely be making them at home!
lisa says
Yummy as always. Hope you are doing good…and that your sweet girl is settling in. Love to you.
Andrea the Kitchen Witch says
I’ve made the crack pie before, it really is crack!! Now these cookies…man they look good and the salty sweet combo gets me every.single.time 🙂