• dfwfoodiegeek on December 25, 2012

  The cornflake crunch is dangerously addictive and the chocolate chip marshmallow corn flake cookies are just ridiculously good. Everything I have made is really excellent, but they are involved recipes which may deter some.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Corn cookies

  • kleins99 on February 13, 2019

    Love these. So unusual and so beloved! People freak over these when I create a cookie gift box for the holiday season.

  • wcassity on January 31, 2015

    Amazing blend of salty and sweet. The natural sweetness of the corn, the sugar, the salt and the butter are so great. I constantly crave these now.

  • Rinshin on February 16, 2019

    Amazing! Buttery, slightly crisp on top, soft in the middle, subtle corn taste, and one of the best tasting cookies I have tasted. No wonder Tosi wanted to keep this as a secret weapon/recipe. These cookies spread so is is important to have 4 in distance per instructions. I only refrigerated the dough after putting on the baking sheet for 1 and half hour and it was fine. I have had freeze dried corn for at least 4 to 5 years and I normally add them to savory dishes but never occurred to me to use for cookies. Great idea. Photo added.

  • annmartina on April 10, 2016

    Add dried blueberries

  • anya_sf on May 14, 2018

    Unusual cookies, like extra sweet cornbread but with a cookie texture. We liked them. I wasn't sure about the flour weight, as 225 g is more than 1 1/3 cups; I went with grams. Mine were not as bright yellow as the photo in the linked recipe, and the centers did not stay puffed; the cookies had crackly tops. I think I made them correctly though. Anyway, good, but they didn't wow me. I felt like they needed some sort of mix-in. I like the dried blueberry suggestion. I also thought maybe toffee bits would be good.

  • TinyCitiKitchen on July 19, 2023

    These are my favorite Milk Bar cookies, and I still can't believe that I can bake a batch that tastes EXACTLY the same as the ones I buy from the store!

• Birthday cake

  • Foodo on January 28, 2014

    So pretty, so much work, not so great a cake :-( http://foododelmundo.com/2012/04/04/birthday-cake/

  • mamacrumbcake on July 26, 2021

    This is a gorgeous cake and definitely a lot of work (4 components), but it is quite manageable if you spread it out over a few days. Unfortunately, you do need acetate and cake ring to pull this off. That being said, this is a recipe that some will adore, they will think it is the yummiest cake ever. And some will think it’s just okay. In my experience, younger people (the under 40 crowd) like this cake more than the older generations, whose principal criticism was that it was excessively sweet.

• Birthday cake crumb

  • Foodo on March 31, 2012

    Each individual part of this recipe was good, but as a whole I was underwhelmed. The sum of the parts did not equal exceptional results. Too bad though, because it is so cute to look at!

  • annmartina on April 10, 2016

    I've seriously eaten this crumb in a bowl with milk poured over it like cereal. Divine

• Chocolate malt layer cake

  • Foodo on January 28, 2014

    http://foododelmundo.com/2012/04/12/chocolate-malt-cake/

  • vfsalom on August 06, 2022

    The chocolate sponge cake in this is SO salty. I cut back on salt by 1/3 and it was still incredibly, unpleasantly salty - and I love salt, and salted desserts. Her ideas are so inspiring, but I have tried a few of the recipes now and found the flavours are not balanced, at least to my taste.

• Grasshopper pie

  • rittingerv on July 06, 2022

    The chocolate filling is extremely rich but not sweet, The mint flavoring is very subtle. Not sure I'd make this again.

• Pistachio layer cake

  • hughb on May 14, 2012

    This might be the best cake I have ever eaten. A lot of work, but FULL of flavor. My partner made it for Mother's Day and everyone was dying over it. He followed the recipe precisely, and it was perfect. The lemon curd is a spectacular touch. Can't say enough about it.

• Cornflake crunch

  • Melanie on November 18, 2011

    I made a batch of the crunch for the cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow cookies. This crunch tastes so good! Even if you need only half a batch of this for a follow on recipe I'd suggest making a full batch as it nice to nibble on.

  • bettymac on November 26, 2022

    https://www.marthastewart.com/865366/cornflake-crunch

• Cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow cookies

  • Melanie on November 18, 2011

    This is a two step recipe - make cornflake crunch and then make the cookies. I loved these so much, especially while they were still warm out of the oven and the marshmallow was nice and gooey. Cooking time & temperature was pretty accurate for my oven. I made 20 cookies - each tray was baked with 6 cookies (4 inch spacing as per book's rec). They spread heaps! Flavour was really good - salty and sweet - and I liked that the edges got nice and golden.

  • trudys_person on August 30, 2023

    I've made these a few times, and can't get them to come out quite right. Following the recipe to a T, they spread like crazy and the marshmallows oozed out and caramelized. They definitely need more flour to help them not spread. I haven't perfected how much yet. And I think I'll wrap the dough around the marshmallows next time, rather than mixing them into the dough ... or maybe I won't bother. The Compost Cookies and the Sprinkle Cookies work ...

  • meggan on May 04, 2012

    These burned in our oven really easily and cooked in much less time than the recipe said. Also, I think I should have made them bigger than the ice cream scoop. It seems like they should be served warm.

  • mamacrumbcake on July 26, 2021

    Very good cookie, but hard to get right. Christina Tosi, in her baking class, recommended baking a tester cookie, in order to know the best time and temperature for your specific oven. For me, a #16 scoop and 11 minutes at 375 yielded the best results. This was universally liked by our family, friends, and neighbors. My only change would be to add the tiniest sprinkling of salt to the top of each cookie before baking. I’m adding some pictures to show the difference in spread between 11 and 12 minutes.

  • anya_sf on March 20, 2018

    This recipe did not turn out that well for me. I used Plugra butter, KAF bread flour, weighed ingredients, followed directions precisely, chilled dough several hours, but the cookies still spread too much and overbaked somewhat (darker colored cookie sheet more so - I have 2 light ones and 1 darker). Maybe next time I would cream the dough for a shorter time, or freeze the dough before baking. But I also wonder if using insulated, light-colored cookie sheets would help. The cookies were good, kind of crunchy/chewy like rice krispie treats. They were almost too sweet for my taste though, although my husband thought they were awesome.

  • Amypie on October 06, 2022

    I found a couple tips that worked brilliantly in making these to help stop cookie spread. First don't use silicone sheets i.e. sil-pat. The parchment paper works better. Also add 2 marshmallows to each cookie after forming. This allows the marshmallows to not tear thus holding the skin on the outside so they don't melt as quickly. I used semi sweet chips but I think a mix of semi and white would have been better along with a sprinkle of salt on top.

  • SweetLittleBytes on January 22, 2021

    I have a lot of baking experience, but couldn't get these cookies to turn out right. They tasted delicious, but spread out way too thin despite chilling the dough.

• Confetti cookies

  • Melanie on March 09, 2014

    I also made this recipe with regular vanilla extract. I thought this was a fun recipe - these would be perfect for a birthday party.

  • trudys_person on October 10, 2012

    I wasn't able to find the McCormick's clear vanilla required for this recipe, but the cookies were great with regular (real) vanilla. I finally found it at Walmart in the US.

  • annmartina on April 10, 2016

    I don't like flavor of clear so I use regular vanilla. I did a frost -your-own cookie party at work with these cookies, with the birthday cake frosting and birthday cake crumb

  • coryelizabeth on October 23, 2018

    These cookies turned out really well, but they don't taste quite as amazing as the ones you can purchase in Milk Bar. The cookies sold in the store have this amazing cookie-dough-flavor thing going on, one that I cannot seem to replicate. They're still a solid and delicious sugar cookie option, though. I baked only for 17 minutes and cooled on the sheets for only 5.

  • Bwolfe2 on April 15, 2017

    This is a favorite cookie...and my favorite from this book.... so far. It's also a crowd pleaser. Know that it's time intensive so consider doing it in steps. Also note that this, and all the recipes in this book, are very high in calories.

• Compost cookies

  • Melanie on December 08, 2011

    These worked really well - nice mix of sweet & salty. I halved the size of each cookie as they turn out huge at the normal size. I substitute chocolate coated caramels for the butterscotch chips and used mini marshmallows instead of graham cracker crumbs. Note that you only need to buy cream if you are making the graham cracker crumbs from the book!

  • nicolemorgan86 on June 11, 2012

    These are DELICIOUS. One note--you MUST have a stand mixer to make these cookies. We actually caved and bought a stand mixer just to make the stuff from this cookbook (I'm usually a die-hard "all you need is a bowl and a wooden spoon" person, but really, you NEED a stand mixer for these). Next time, I think I'll make them with marshmallows as Melanie suggests to make them like little s'mores cookies.

  • twoyolks on December 10, 2012

    Be aware that these cookies can overcook rather quickly at which point they become very hard.

  • meggan on June 08, 2017

    I thought these were too much! As the name suggests, they include every sweet or salty thing you can think of - would have been much better with fewer elements.

  • Motto14620 on August 21, 2016

    Made these using the gluten free substitute flour from Cooks Illustrated. They worked out well, but they are very fragile and crumble easily with that gf flour mix. I'm not that well versed with gf stuff to know what to add to fix that.

  • Bwolfe2 on April 15, 2017

    This is a very good cookie!! It's also interesting and would stand out at an event. It's interesting ingredients make it a conversation piece as well as a treat. The confetti cookie is still my fav in this book....but I would definitely make this cookie again.

  • ChelseaP on May 22, 2021

    Amazing and so much fun to make. Everyone always loves them.

• Peanut brittle

  • Melanie on November 18, 2011

    I made a batch of this brittle to go into the peanut butter cookies and I've been snacking away madly on the leftover brittle. Very easy to make.

• Peanut butter cookies

  • Melanie on November 18, 2011

    This is a two step recipe - make peanut brittle and then make the cookies. I loved these so much - the caramel from the brittle provided a nice change in texture. Cooking time & temperature was pretty accurate for my oven. I made 20 cookies - each tray was baked with 6 cookies (4 inch spacing as per book's rec). I thought it was a nice balance of salty and sweet although one person that tried them thought there was too much salt.

  • mshoup on December 06, 2011

    These may be the best peanut butter cookies I've ever had.

  • twoyolks on January 18, 2016

    These were just okay cookies for me. There wasn't a strong peanut butter flavor that I was hoping for. I will note that I did not use Skippy peanut butter but instead used what I had on hand.

• Brownie pie

  • twoyolks on February 01, 2014

    The texture was much softer than a traditional brownie. It also was too salty for my tastes (despite measuring by weight).

  • Bwolfe2 on April 15, 2017

    I've made lots of things from this book which has become a go-to for special events with guests. This one was delicious, perhaps the easiest in the book from recipes I've tried, but my least fav so far. Perhaps my expectations for the outcome were too high given the other recipes. If you need a crowd-pleaser pie...the Crack Pie is worth the effort and addictive...as it's name suggests.

• Crack pie

  • twoyolks on March 06, 2017

    This is very good and almost a carbon copy of that served at the restaurant. It is, however, very sweet.

  • Bwolfe2 on April 15, 2017

    This is every bit as addictive as it's title suggests. It is VERY rich so serve small servings.

  • anya_sf on October 30, 2017

    This recipe has many components which can be made ahead, which is nice, since there are so many steps. However, I ended up making it all in one day, as it really isn't that time-consuming. Even with the required 3 hours of freezing time, we were able to have it for dessert the same night. I couldn't find 10" disposable pie pans, so I used 3 smaller ones. I did end up baking it for 10 minutes longer than the recipe stated in order for the pies to set up as directed. And I'm really glad it stores in the freezer - it's very rich. Overall, we enjoyed the pie. I liked it way better than I expected, as I thought it would be way too sweet, but I found myself strangely taken in by the gooey goodness. My husband simply said, "This is awesome!"

  • ChelseaP on May 22, 2021

    Addictive! A real crowd pleaser for sweet tooths.

• Graham ice cream

  • twoyolks on September 28, 2013

    The ice cream is reminiscent of vanilla but with a more complex flavor. It also has a nice texture from the gelatin.

• Everything bagel mix

  • adelina on December 06, 2023

    I decided to make my own seasonings as much as possible to control the ingredients that go into them better. For example, using organic as much as possible. This turned out great and using it on any chance I get.

  • Dannausc on May 24, 2020

    Super easy and good.

• Birthday cake frosting

  • annmartina on April 10, 2016

    This frosting is also great on the carrot cake and the confetti cookies

• Grapefruit pie

  • annmartina on April 10, 2016

    A show stopper because it is so stupendously good , surprising and unique

• Cinnamon bun pie

  • annmartina on April 10, 2016

    Use Beth Hensberger's morning sticky bun dough for the crust

  • Dhasenkampf on April 13, 2021

    I only had a 9.5" deep dish pie pan, not the 10" one called for, so maybe that's why I was so underwhelmed. My dough never rose in the oven or browned. The crust stayed completely flat and became rock hard. Ate the filling with a spoon and had to chisel the crust out of the pan into the trash.

• Carrot cake

  • annmartina on April 10, 2016

    Divine simply frosted with the birthday cake frosting, which has cream cheese in it

• Candy bar pie

  • NJChicaa on January 24, 2018

    This took like 3 days to make as you need to make 5 different components (if I remember correctly) in order to assemble the whole thing. Seriously a pain in the rear end to make this one.

• Bagel bombs

  • NJChicaa on January 24, 2018

    The cost of the book is worth it for these bagel bombs alone.

  • Dannausc on May 24, 2020

    Quite a few steps but quite good.

• Birthday layer cake

  • rwarner on November 15, 2019

    I made this cake for my own birthday. I am a cake and frosting lover and found this cake to meet my highest expectations. It was wonderful! I can see how the cake can easily serve 8 or more people. We froze half the cake and now I’m looking forward to thawing/eating it again soon.

  • Knead2Quilt on September 08, 2023

    I made this for my husbands birthday and this cake was delicious. It was not too sweet and was just the right size. I will make this again and again. Well worth the four steps it takes to make this delicious cake.

• Blueberry and cream cookies

  • thefritschkitchen on March 21, 2016

    I so wanted to love this recipe, but it just feel short of my expectations. Not so much a blueberry and cream flavor, the different bits (dried blueberries, milk crumbs) just never quite came together. An ok cookie, but probably not worth the extra effort

  • Dannausc on May 24, 2020

    Good though the blueberry and cream flavor didn’t really shine through. However my wife said they were the best cookies she’d ever had!

  • ChelseaP on May 21, 2021

    These are so fun and delicious! A bit of a project (as are most Milk Bar recipes) but definitely worth it.

• Chocolate crumb

  • metacritic on March 08, 2021

    Tastes exactly like those freezer cookies. Pretty darned good.

• Coffee frosting

  • metacritic on March 09, 2021

    Others seem to have more success with this frosting than I did. I made it and started adding the liquid, which never really incorporated. After a very long time, I gave up and started the recipe over again. This time I very slowly poured the liquid in as if it were a mayonnaise. Once again it stopped accepting liquid. It tasted great at this time, however, so I used even if it never took the form she said it would: pillowing and full and the softest buttercream you have ever seen. Looking forward to the whole composed cake tomorrow.

• Chocolate chip cake

  • metacritic on March 09, 2021

    Easy and delicious. Pay careful attention to her note about beating the ingredients until they come together, lighten, and double in size. You have a liquid until this moment, at which point the batter comes together. It took me roughly six minutes. Cooked for the full 35 minutes as at 30 it was still very wet and liquid-y.

• Passion fruit curd

  • metacritic on March 09, 2021

    Fantastic. I did not bring this to a full boil as she suggests. I treated it like a creme anglais and slowly thickened it, which worked beautifully. The other approach should work as the blender ought to smooth out the curds.

  • TheWayEyeRoll on February 07, 2022

    I wasn't happy with the result. It had an odd texture, probably due to the gelatin. I used powdered instead of a sheet, using her instructions for the substitution. The curd seemed pasty as if there was lots of cornstarch or something else that did not dissolve properly in it. It just didn't feel smooth on the tongue although appearance-wise it seemed fine. I also felt the amount of butter was a little too much. I might try it again, using sheet gelatin or just move on to a different recipe for passionfruit curd.

• Cereal milk ice cream

  • anya_sf on October 30, 2017

    I thought it was OK, but didn't love it. Unsurprisingly, it tasted like toasted corn flakes. I love that it's made with just milk and not cream. The texture was creamy and smooth. It calls for special ingredients, which I wouldn't normally have, but now that I've bought them, I think I'd try this method with other flavorings.

  • bettymac on November 26, 2022

    Link: https://cafefernando.com/momofuku-milk-bars-cereal-milk-ice-cream/

• Bacon, scallion, cream cheese plugs

  • Dannausc on May 24, 2020

    Quite easy. Good.

• Mother dough

  • Dannausc on May 24, 2020

    Easy but quite sticky and difficult to work with.

• Milk crumb

  • Dannausc on May 24, 2020

    Fine.

• Chocolate chip layer cake

  • ChelseaP on May 21, 2021

    Made this for a birthday and it's incredible! The layers are so striking and the flavour combination of chocolate, coffee and passion fruit was wonderful.

• Fudge sauce

  • ChelseaP on May 22, 2021

    Delicious!

• Food52

  Picked for Food52's October 2017 Cookbook Club. See what ingredients to stock up on.

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• Food52 by Celia Sack

  The 2012 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks winner vs. Ferran Adrià's The Family Meal

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• Fine Cooking

  And Tosi calls for unusual ingredients... But her flavor combinations and riffs on childhood classics are so ingenious, and so delicious, that many bakers will find them well worth the effort.

  Full review

• Kitchn

  Yes, the recipes often have a lot of steps and require a time commitment...But you can certainly serve a cinnamon bun pie or a guava sorbet with liquid cheese cake skin at your next dinner party.

  Full review

• Los Angeles Times

  The truth is, I think I take a lot more pleasure out of baking from the book than I ever did from stopping by the bakery...a testament to the recipes: The sweets turn out as good as the bakery's.

  Full review

• Oregonian

  Tosi creates sweets that are inspired by her favorite childhood flavors, as well as savory dishes that put modern twists on classic combinations.

  Full review

• Seattle Weekly

  ...recipes for the "mother doughs" many recipes are built on, "crunches" and crumbs" that make Milk Bar desserts so irresistible, techniques for the chewiest cookies, and permission to experiment...

  Full review