I’m a salty sweet girl. I love how the two flavors play off of one another, enhancing the essence of each. Pretzels and chocolate? Absolutely. Chocolate and peanut butter? Right on. Bacon and chocolate? But of course. Kettle corn? If only I could still eat popcorn. Berger cookies and CheezIts? Mai oui – but maybe that’s just a Baltimore thing. My point is that I embrace the salty sweet dichotomy. So when I saw that The Amateur Gourmet had posted the recipe for Momofuku Milk Bar’s Compost Cookies, which celebrated the salty sweet, I figured I could get down with that. So I did. But then I didn’t. Because, and I can’t believe that I’m going to say this, they were too salty.
I think I got all excited about the idea of trying to use up some of the faux Rice Krispies that I’d bought for another recipe (which was so disappointing that it shall never see the light of day in my kitchen again…did I really think rice cereal crusted fish was a good idea?), that I didn’t consider that the beauty of the salty sweet is in the balance. And my cookies were definitely not balanced. I had 1 1/2 cups of salty crushed potato chips but only 3/4 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of toffee chips. See how those scales were tipped by considering 1/2 cup of puffed rice as a “sweet” element?
So these may not have worked out for me, but now I’m curious to try the real thing. It just so happens that I will be in New York in August. I have learned that my hotel is mere blocks away from Momofuku’s midtown milk bar. Can you see where this is going? I dunno, maybe a visit to the Milk Bar needs to be worked into my agenda so I can see what happens when the masters balance the salty and sweet.
Bon Appetit Hon 
I’m for new things but a super salty cookie? Pass. I’m a big fan of salty and sweet too but my go it is popcorn and M&Ms. nom.
Boo, I definitely did not get the balance right on this one. We still ate them, of course.
Too salty?? Damn… I really want to try out that Milk bar place too. We are actually cooking from Momofuku this weekend for cookbook club so I am excited to see how things turn out!
and wow- cheez its and berger cookies, how does one consume both at the same time? one mouthful or one after the other??
Elizabeth, my pilgrimage to Milk Bar has been put on hold since I won’t be going to NYC as originally planned. Hope you’ll post about cookbook club.
Place 1 CheezIt on top of 1 Berger Cookie. Lather, rinse, repeat!
Wendi, you’ll just have to do an alternate trip to NYC. It’s so easy to go up and back on the bus…you could go for just a Milkbar trip. Hmm…blogger trip?
Beth, are you volunteering to accompany me on such a research trip? Because I’ll use just about any excuse to play with my new camera lens.
I had a compost cookie from Milk Bar last month and it was not salty but it was definitely too too too sweet. I could feel my teeth decaying after one bite.
Really? I like sweet but not that sweet.
I’m intrigued to try one from their shop to see how badly I got things wrong with my at home version.
I wonder if you would like the salty/sweet balance better if you used all chocolate and toffee chips instead of adding the Rice Krispies. And on another note, have you tried the new pretzel M&Ms?
I’m convinced it was those damn Rice Krispies that derailed the experiment. How are they considered in the same category as chocolate chips for this recipe?
Pretzel M&M? Tell me more….please.
Yeah, the Rice Krispies aren’t super sweet. Could you taste them in the cookies? So the pretzels M&Ms, they were really exciting to try! I love the idea of new M&Ms. I dragged my husband around to a bunch of stores last year to try the peanut butter and jelly ones (which I didn’t love, unfortunately, and I don’t see anymore…come to think of it, I don’t see the coconut ones either). I don’t want to ruin your experience of the pretzels ones by telling you what I think, but you shoudl try them! I want to hear what someone else thinks. I found them at Target.
The Rice Krispies were more of a texture than a taste in the cookies.
Will have to look for the pretzel M&M’s the next time I’m in Target and give them a try.
So the pretzel M&M’s…both The Mistah and I agreed that they were close but not quite right. He thinks they needed more chocolate. I think they need a little less chocolate. Or maybe I’ve just become a chocolate snob after indulging my taste buds with Scharfen Berger all these years.
great combo, this one! lovely detailed posts!