Milk Bar’s Compost Cookies

My recent pastime of binge-watching crazy baking competitions on Netflix (Nailed It!, Zumbo’s Just Desserts, Sugar Rush, and my all-time favorite, The Great British Baking Competition) reignited my love of baking sweet treats on the weekend. I enjoy every part of the process: finding new recipes, shopping for ingredients, concentrating on following the directions perfectly — hello, Type A personality! — and, of course, enjoying the final product. Baking requires focus and precision to get the right result, which simultaneously satisfies and calms my analytical brain; it’s like a meditative activity with a sweet reward at the end.

My parents bought me a yellow Kitchenaid stand mixer last Christmas and it makes my heart so happy to use it; it reminds me of baking with my Nan and her yellow stand mixer when I was little. It also makes baking a breeze: you just toss in your ingredients and let the mixer do all the work.

When I saw Christina Tosi’s episode of Chef’s Table and watched her throw all my favorite sweet and salty snacks into her mixer to make these compost cookies, I knew I had to give them a go. I baked a batch yesterday and made my cookies way too big — they spread substantially as they bake — but it was the best mistake I ever made.

Let’s talk about what’s in the batter: potato chips, mini pretzels, coffee grounds, chocolate chips, butterscotch and a homemade graham cracker crust (that’s super easy to make). You can customize the dough base with your favorite mix-ins, snacks and candies, making this the perfect everything-but-the-kitchen-sink sweet and savory treat. They bake into a thin cookie that’s magically chewy and crispy, and the mix of textures makes a seriously delicious treat.

You can find the original recipe here!