Compost Cookies? Yes, you read that correctly! Milk Bar, famed James Beard award winning Pastry Chef, Christina Tosi is the acclaimed creator of this funnily named cookie. But, funny as it's name may be, it's a very practical concept, and one that I can't believe I hadn't thought of a long time ago!
The path to my discovery of the Compost Cookie will shed light on my big "Duhh!" moment.
Kia, the dog about the farm and every other corner of the county at times, mostly refuses to eat dog food in the bagged kibble variety. Before we adopted her, she was raised entirely on raw beef. That seems like a rather expensive way to take care of her dietary needs, so I started making her food. Sometimes she simply gets a portion of whatever we're eating, but a couple of months ago, I started feeding her eggs with add-ins. Sometimes I add bread cubes and leftover meat. Yesterday I had some leftover pasta and liver that William knew we were unlikely to eat. I sneak veggies into her diet this way, too! Leftovers, fried up with a few eggs to hold it all together make the dog very happy.
Farms are notorious for having no waste. Food scraps go to the dog, kitchen scraps go to the chickens, so compost on the farm has to be created with inedibles like manure, straw, and brush.
Ok, back to the story. The other day I surveyed this pantry of mine. There are lots of nuts, spices, coffee beans, mini-marshmallows, oatmeal, etc. that should probably be used up. I like to clean the jars every so often and replace the items stored in them. But, survey is all I did. I shut the doors and thought, later.
Then I met the Compost Cookie. I was at Krewe in St. Joe (and it's mothership bakery out back) lunching with my family last weekend. Well, the minute I saw the name, "Compost Cookie" I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I had not already thought of the cookie add-in bonanza concept! After all, I have a pantry to clean out and William, the snacker extraordinaire in my life has entire closets full of fabulous snacks that could get added into cookies! Have I told you that despite being organic farmers, we teeter on the verge of becoming junk food junkies? Denial of my bad habits is likely what kept me from an earlier discovery of this cookie concept. That and the fact that normally I don't much enjoy making cookies. Today, however, the thrill of creating new tastes and combinations made for some very fun cookie making!
This concept really suits my cooking style! Most of the time when I cook, there is no recipe involved. I tend to cook best with limited ingredients that force me to get creative. I often can't make the same dish twice as whatever was in the pantry might not exist in the same combination for another round. Everything I cook is LIMITED EDITION and I like it best that way!
As you can imagine, some of my Limited Edition Compost Cookies will find their way to the Farm Store later today. These have peanuts, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, ground coffee, cornmeal, broken peanut butter cookies and mini marshmallows! I've got the jars in the dishwasher and the pantry clean out is underway! Not only that, but weirdly delicious treats result!
Just think how far the cookie has come! I wonder what Bill's Grandma, Farmtress Florence would have thought of these? She always had treats in the kitchen.
Eat your sweets in moderation, my friends.
Sending love from the farm,
Sarah
I think a few bits of sugar cone would taste good in these! I haven't thought about using coffee grounds, but that's an idea I might try.
Genius!! You're an inspiration, as always :-)