Quarter Cup Kitchen

I imagine they’d serve these on the Polar Express

Hello QCK, and welcome back to Outside the Cookie Box — a 5-day cookie series dedicated to the recipes you won’t find in anyone else’s cookie tin.

All week long, I’m sharing playful, inventive, flavor-forward cookies that bring something new (and maybe a little unexpected) to your holiday baking lineup. My hope is that you stumble on a few “forever favorites” you’ll return to year after year — and maybe learn a little cookie science along the way. 🙂

I wanted to save this recipe for the finale but I’m seriously too excited about it and I neeeeed to share. These are so good and I’ve gotten so many requests for the recipe on socials that it started feeling like not sharing was gatekeeping. But, it’s a Levain-bakery style base, so think thick, fluffy, buttery, and a little dense with a pool of earl grey chocolate ganache in the middle and a dollop of perfectly melty-on-the-inside-golden-brown-on-top marshmallow fluff. It’s super decadent but the base dough is a little saltier than a traditional cookie dough and the savory of the earl grey cuts the sweetness and balances everything out. No shade, but they’re doing what I always wish Crumbl would do.

My Favorite Cookie Hacks

• Add a tablespoon or two of dry milk powder.
I learned this from Christina Tosi of Milk Bar, it’s her secret to deeper, richer flavor in cookies. You can add it to any recipe. It adds depth, browns beautifully, and makes the dough taste more caramelized and full-bodied. It gives you a bakery-style texture without changing anything else in the recipe.

• Add spices during the creaming stage.
Incorporate vanilla, cinnamon, or any spices while the butter and sugar are still being creamed. It “blooms” the flavors, making them more intense, even, and aromatic throughout the cookie.

• Chill the dough.
Not new, but essential. Chilling keeps the butter cold, which means it melts more slowly in the oven and helps the cookies stay soft and thick instead of spreading too fast.

• Pull them from the oven early.
Cookies continue to cook from residual heat. Taking them out 1–2 minutes before they look done ensures they finish perfectly soft and stay that way for days.

Note: If you’re feeling extra extra, you can stop by my Molasses Cookie Sandwich recipe and steal the homemade brown sugar cardamom marshmallow recipe from there and replace the store-bought marshmallows here.

Recipe:

Prep: 25 mins

Cook: 16-18 Mins

Category: Cookies

Servings: 15

Ingredients

Earl Grey Ganache

• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 Earl Grey tea bags
• ½ cup milk or dark chocolate
• ¼ tsp kosher salt

Cookie Dough

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp dry milk powder
• ½ cup marshmallow fluff

Directions

Make the Earl Grey Ganache

1. Heat the cream.
   In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the heavy cream until just below a boil. Remove from heat and add the Earl Grey tea bags.
2. Steep.
   Cover and let the tea steep in the cream for 3–5 minutes.
3. Combine with chocolate.
   Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Pour the hot infused cream over it, straining through a fine-mesh sieve to catch any stray tea leaves.
4. Melt and mix.
   Let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth and fully incorporated.
5. Season and chill.
   Stir in the kosher salt. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ganache and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until thick and scoopable (like fudge or firm ice cream).

Make the Cookies

6. Cream butter and sugar.
   In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar until light, fluffy, and sandy.
7. Add wet ingredients.
   Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until fully incorporated.
8. Add dry ingredients.
   Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and dry milk powder. Mix until a dough forms.
9. Scoop the dough.
   Using a large cookie scoop, portion the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
10. Create a well.
    Use the back of a spoon to gently press a crater into the center of each cookie.
11. Fill with ganache and marshmallow.
    Spoon about 1 tablespoon of chilled ganache into each well. Top with a small dollop of marshmallow fluff.
12. Freeze.
    Place the sheet tray in the freezer for about 1 hour, or until the centers are nearly frozen.
13. Bake.
    Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies for 16–18 minutes, or until spread, the ganache has melted, and the marshmallow fluff is golden and toasty.
14. Cool completely.
    Let the cookies cool fully on the tray before removing—they’re delicate while warm and firm up as they cool.

Thank you so much for visiting QCK! I’m happy to have you here. If you try any recipes, or have any requests, please let me know! Otherwise happy cooking and lots of love from my kitchen to yours. ❤

• TikTok
• Spotify
• Instagram