This weekend was an eventful one — we celebrated our friend’s visit to Baltimore on Thursday night with some great food, went out to dinner at Papi’s Taco Joint on Friday night, visited the Boordy Vineyards on Saturday afternoon, cooked a homestyle Arabic dinner, and made “The Cookie-and-Milk Cup” on Sunday afternoon. This cookie cup is inspired by the Cookie Shots — a brilliant invention of Chef Dominique Ansel, who is also the creator of the world famous Cronut. Hailing from France, Chef Ansel was alien to the common concept of dipping warm cookies in cold milk and so his genius mind thought “why not combine the two?” To hold the milk without leakage, he coats the inside of his cookie shots with a heat-resistant chocolate glaze so that he can warm the cookie shots (without melting the glaze) before pouring in the cold milk and serving. He fills his cookie shots with ice cold milk touched with vanilla and sugar, which makes them even more special.

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On my last visit to NYC, we were so close to visiting the Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo for some Cookie Milk Shots, until we found out they were closed that week due to a severe mice infestation. Those cookie shots had been on our minds since then and so the family finally got me to make them. I did not have oven-safe shot glasses so I used stoneware teacups and made cookie cups instead of cookie shots. The amount of dough that went in one cup was equal to almost 4-5 regular sized cookies. So the cookie cups were obviously pretty heavy. I coated the insides of the cups with melted dark chocolate to make them sturdy enough to hold a good amount of milk. And lastly, I got the vanilla bean infused milk ready to get poured into the cookie cups. We thought that the vanilla milk was the star of the cookie cups. It was cold, barely sweet and super refreshing.

This cookie cup was definitely fun to make. But watching others trying hard to eat it in a dignified manner was much more fun! Make it at home and you will not have anyone judge you by your chocolate smeared face! 😉

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The Cookie & Milk Cup

Partially adapted from Byron Talbott

For the cookie cup:
2 cups – plain flour
1/2 tsp – salt
1/2 cup – unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup – granulated sugar
1/2 – brown sugar
1 – egg
1/2 cup – semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup – dark chocolate for the coating

For the vanilla bean infused milk:
1 cup – cold milk
1 inch piece – vanilla bean, split & scraped (or use 1/8 tsp of vanilla bean paste)
1/4 tsp – sugar

1) Whisk the butter and sugars for 3-5 minutes till smooth and creamy. Add in the egg and whisk till incorporated.
2) Add in the salt and flour, a third at a time and mix just till incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips.
3) Cover and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. In the mean time, brush the insides of 6 oven-safe teacups with oil or melted butter. Alternatively, you can use a popover pan to make these cups.
4) Make the vanilla milk by combining all the ingredients and refrigerate till it’s ready to use.
5) Lightly flour your hands. Divide the chilled dough among the greased cups and press it firmly and evenly on the base and sides of the cup, making sure there are no holes/cracks/air pockets. Also make sure the cups have a decent thickness. They will break if they are too thin. Smooth the insides using a straight rolling pin or a similar shaped object.
6) Place a piece of foil big enough to cover all the dough inside the cup. Then fill the cup with pie weights or any uncooked beans like black beans, kidney beans or garbanzo beans. If you skip this step, your cookie cups will not remain hollow. They will rise and there will be no room to pour the milk.
7) Place the cups on a baking sheet and bake them for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 375°F. Take the cups out and carefully pull out the foil with beans in it. Place them back into the oven for another 5-8 minutes or until the cookie cups have brown edges. Let them cool for 30 minutes.
8) Gently invert the cups and the cookie cup should easily slide out. Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler or microwave and brush it on the insides of the cookie cups, paying special attention to any cracks that developed during the baking process. This will make the cups sturdy enough to hold the milk well. Refrigerate the cookie cups for 20 minutes or till the chocolate coating hardens. 
9) When ready to eat, pour in the vanilla milk.
10) Take a sip of milk, take a bite of the cookie, take a sip, take a bit, take a sip, take a bite, share and enjoy!