Cronut creator Dominique Ansel debuted his latest culinary masterpiece— a milk-filled shot glass made out of a chocolate chip cookie — at this year's South by Southwest conference.
The cookie shot had the food world buzzing, as it can not only retain the cold, vanilla-infused milk it holds, but it does so even when served warm.
Because Karin Lee, an actress from Los Angeles, couldn't get them at SXSW or in New York, she hacked Ansel's technique and posted the directions to Instructables.com. With permission, we've reprinted Lee's efforts so you can make Ansel's cookie shot glasses yourself:
1. Make The Dough
I used Serious Eats' "Best Chocolate Chip Cookie" recipe, but bastardized it by adding a half cup of flour and beating the dough longer than recommended, so it would be easier to roll out.
Use whatever dough you want, just make sure it's stiff enough that you can manipulate it a little.
2. Chop The Chocolate
Make sure to use mini-chips and/or hand-chopped chocolate. If your chunks are too big, you get weird holes rolling out the dough.
3. Prep The Mold
I used a mini popover pan lined with strips of parchment paper for the outside, and wrapped corks in foil for for the center piece.
4. Roll The Dough
I used plenty of flour and a pizza cutter to get my lines straight.
My first attempt was wrapping the dough around a shot glass, but I found it more effective to use the centerpiece that would eventually go in during the baking process. And it's much easier to get the parchment paper around before you put it in the pan.
Use a real shot glass to make a circle for the bottom of the cookie shot glass, the use the aluminum foil-cork-plug to smash it all together. Straighten out the top edge with your finger if it gets crooked. It won't fix itself while it bakes.
I greased some of them and found that (with this pan, at least) it didn't make a difference.
5. Bake The Shot Glasses
My preferred temperature setting was basking at 375 F for 10-14 minutes.
I tried the first batch at 350 F and they were meltier and puffier, while the higher temperature made the next batch take their shape more quickly.
The aluminum foil was definitely more effective than the cardboard. On second batches, I filled the cardboard with foil so the cookie wouldn't puff up inside, but the cardboard middles were a lot stickier to pull out.
It's best to pull out the centers while they're still warm, before they fully set, just don't burn yourself.
You can see the one that I didn't give a plug to just filled right in. Cookie Shot Glass fail.
6. Glaze The Inside*
First, wait until your cookie shotglasses are completely cool before glazing. Here are the two types I tested:
1. A "Confectioners Glaze"— this is what I grew up knowing as "cinnamon roll frosting."
A little powdered sugar, splash of vanilla, and a couple teaspoons of milk. I like to make mine thick — like a thick paint.
2. A variation on Royal Icing— an idea inspired by my days of using Royal Icing to glue together my gingerbread mansion/castle/lighthouse/city, this stuff hardens like glue when it dries.
For my little test batch, I used 1 pasteurized egg white, a splash of vanilla, beat it in a mixer until frothy, and added about 3/4 cup of powdered sugar.
I used clean paintbrushes to brush the inside, and also tested the pour-n'-swirl method, which wasn't really as effective since my glazes were fairly thick. I recommend continuing to re-distribute the frostings with the paintbrush as they dry, since they sink to the bottom. You can also let them dry on their sides and roll em around as you see fit.
For each different glaze, I tested one single coat vs. two coats.
I tested one unheated test a couple hours after applying a glaze to see if it was holding at all — and seemed to work pretty well. I painted a few more, and let them sit overnight.
Reheat And Pour
In the morning, they were dry. I reheated one of each type in the oven at 350 F for 5 minutes, and then added milk. The confectioner's glaze worked great for both the single and double coats, but the royal icing was not a success (which makes sense, now that I think about it).
*Editor's note: Dominique Ansel lines the inside of his cookie shot glasses with chocolate, but a Serious Eats article notes that he also uses a glaze to make the cookie stand up better to the milk.
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