Milk Bar Life

My attempt at recreating the cover of the cookbook.

I was already Milk Bar obsessed and now with my new cookbook I can truly live the Milk Bar life. I think this cookbook just went to the top of my list as being my favorite cookbook. Every recipe is wacky, weird, unusual and amazing!

Like the Milk Bar Life, my baking life isn't so pretty. I'm ready to move on from my old and messy college rent house!

I read this cookbook cover to cover. I don't ever do that. Christina is so quirky and I love the way her brain works. She believes in a cookie a day, using a combination of unique and regular grocery store ingredients and having a real passion or story that belongs to each recipe. She also gives cookie lessons on the best way and amount of time to incorporate ingredients, best timing for baking, cooling and storing etc.

Compared to the first Milk Bar cookbook, Milk Bar Life features off the menu recipes that come from Christina's life outside the bakery. There are different chapters of the book such as A Cookie A Day, Supermarket Finds, Freakin' Weekend and Hand-Me-Downs. I wrote down a list of the recipes I want to tackle, but first up are The Greta.

These cookies are named after Christina's mom because she was raised on her mom baking them. Christina's mom would send her disposable 9 x13 pans of the cookies in college and still delivers them to the bakery. I was instantly intrigued with the amount of sprinkles covering the whole top layer and because sugar cookies are my favorite kind of cookie.

Because they are baked in a 9 x 13 pyrex they come out more like a sugar cookie bar. Nothing to complain about there, but next time I am going to try baking them in a jelly roll pan to get a flatter more cookie like texture. Besides that, the vanilla and sweet sugar flavoring is on point. Christina mentions how you can either cover them with a cinnamon sugar mixture or with vibrant sprinkles! The sprinkle look reminded me of my Cookie Butter Rice Krispy Treats and the cinnamon sugar version kind of reminds me of my Snickerdoodle Bars.

Milk Bar Sugar Cookie Squares
yields 2 dozen, 2 inch squares*

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil (I used canola)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup milk
sprinkles or cinnamon sugar

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 in baking pan using the wrappers from your butter. *As you can see in the pictures I got 24 tall squares of cookie. They were more of a cookie browning than a cookie. I want to bake these again using a jelly roll pan (15 x 10 in) so I can get larger but flatter cookies. If you test this out let me know how it goes!

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream on high until homogenous, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, oil and vanilla and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.

Add the flour salt and baking soda, mixing until just combined, about 30 seconds. It's important to not over mix the dry ingredients when making any kind of cookie. Over mixing causes your cookies to be dry and crumbly. Mix in the milk until combined, about 30 seconds too.

Spread the dough in an even layer in the prepared pan. Mix together cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle over the top or decorate with colorful sprinkles.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until slightly undercooked, or 3 to 5 minutes if you want a firmer cookie. My came out really doughy which was sinfully delicious!

Living the Milk Bar Life is fun and so yummy! Next up I want to make Christina's Lemon Bars, Ritz Cookies, Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies, Egg Soup, Blue Cheese Pretzels, and Chicken Puffs. Buy your copy so we can live the Milk Bar Life together!