The next chef we’re going to be talking about is Christina Tosi, the well-known pastry chef. I’m sure you’ve seen her on MasterChef or MasterChef Junior. She’s amazing! She’s known for starting Momofuku Milk Bar, and she’s so creative when it comes to baking. We love her compost cookies and her birthday cake recipe – it’s the one we use all the time. The way she layers flavors and adds so much interest to food is inspiring. So, let’s talk about what we can learn from Christina Tosi about baking and delicious food.
Number one – don’t be afraid to break the rules in baking. This is a hard one because I find that when I bake, things always go wrong because I don’t follow the rules. I try to “adlib” a little bit, and change things. Baking is very different to cooking because it’s a science, and it’s precise. I think you need to be a trained pastry chef like Christina Tosi to be able to break some baking rules, but I love the way she does it anyway.
I think what we can learn is that if we get the basic parts correct, and follow the rules for those, then you can experiment within that. For example, when you’re making a cookie dough, you can make it the way it should be made, and then add extra things in. Christina Tosi likes to add in potato chips, ground graham cracker crumbs, pretzels, and all kinds of things like that. That makes the cookies incredibly interesting and tasty, but they still work as cookies because there’s still the basic cookie dough.
There’s also her cereal milk. It’s still milk, and she still uses it correctly in a recipe, but she soaks cereal in it to get the good flavor going. You can soak Rice Krispies and sugar in milk, drain it, and then use that milk in any recipe that needs it. There’s a delicate balance between following the rules and being creative. Being creative is a good thing. Also, if you bake a cake, you can decorate it in an interesting way – put unusual things on top. There’s lots of room for fun.
Something we like to make is puff pastry tarts. To make them, you take squares of puff pastry, the kind that rises, and you put interesting toppings on them. We like to do butternut and feta, but you could do all kinds of interesting things. You could do bacon, zucchini, or marshmallows with chocolate chips. Just go wild and think outside the box.
Number two – use mix-ins. This is exactly what I was talking about to elevate your baking. Everything’s better with a mix-in. Like I said, Christina Tosi adds unexpected mix-ins, like adding pretzels, cereal, potato chips, sprinkles, or coffee grounds to cookies, cakes, and pies. These are unusual and interesting add-ins. We can be really creative in whatever we’re making. If you’re thinking of something to make for a party, try to think of an unusual topping, an unusual filling, or an unusual way that you can flavor the milk, cream, or whatever you’re going to be using before you bake with it.
Number three – use your extras, your leftovers, or your so-called waste in creative ways. Cake scraps have potential. Christina Tosi created her famous milk bar layer cakes by stacking cake rounds cut from sheet cakes, and then reusing all the little scraps and edges by packing them inside the layer cake. She would put the layers in between.
Also, she’s so creative with things like these cakes. We spoke about mix-ins previously. She puts various things in between the layers of cake, not just a layer of frosting. There’s something that she bakes called cake crumbs. It has different ingredients, and it’s crispy, giving the cake a different texture. She might put some kind of jam with the icing. She’ll do all kinds of interesting things in between her cake layers.
Number four – always use room temperature ingredients. It makes the baked goods smoother and better. Butter, eggs, dairy, and et cetera blend better at room temperature, and then you get a much better effect in your baking. It’s a good idea to let things come to room temperature. We store our eggs outside the fridge on the counter, except maybe in the really hot part of summer, and even then we’ll take them out the day before we use them. We do the same with butter – we take it out the day before using it, and let it come to room temperature. Anything that we’re going to be baking or cooking with works better that way.
Number five – cream things longer than you think. When I’m following a recipe to cream butter and sugar, I never know if I’m mixing too much, and if it’s going to overdo it. It seems to take so long. “Is the mixer going to overheat?” It seems that longer is better, however. Christina Tosi recommends creaming your butter and sugar for seven to 10 minutes, so that it whips in the air. This leads to light, fluffy cookies and cakes. Don’t feel like you’re creaming it too long – it’s probably better longer than not.
Number six – when you’re making cookies, under-bake them slightly. This makes them soft and chewy as opposed to crispy. Cookies continue to bake after they come out of the oven, so if you want that chewy texture, take them out just before they look done. The edges should be set, but the center should still look slightly soft. Let them finish cooking outside the oven, and then you’ll get good, soft, chewy cookies.
Number seven – unlike ingredients, which work better at room temperature, dough bakes better when it’s cold, especially cookie dough. Chill your dough after baking it. You can rest cookie dough in the fridge overnight, or you can roll the balls, put them in the fridge for an hour or two, and then bake them. I’m sure you’ve seen the trick where you roll your cookie dough into a long tube and wrap it in baking paper, and then when you want to bake a cookie, you slice some off the end and put it in the oven. You bake it from almost frozen. This really helps with the structure of the cookie so that it doesn’t go flat.
It makes it into a deeper cookie, and then it’s also got a better, richer flavor. When you chill your dough, it also prevents it from spreading too much.
Number eight – balance is key. Balance in baking is different to balance in cooking. In baking, there’s sweet versus salty, crunchy versus creamy, and chewy versus crispy. Sometimes you can use both of them, and that really enhances the recipe. When you’re creating a new recipe, consider the texture, the flavor, and the balance. Add a sprinkle of salt or some crunchy elements to cut through smoothness.
If you’re like me; not really a baker, you’re not going to be creating new baking recipes, but you can still edit them. I like to add salt to a few different recipes, like cheesecake, to give them some more flavor. You can also do a salted caramel sauce, or something like Christina Tosi’s cake with the buttercream and the crunchy cake crumbles. Those add an amazing crunch when you’re eating the soft cake. Any of these things can be edited to be creative.
This creativity includes using ingredients in unexpected ways, which is exactly what Christina Tosi is known for. She puts corn flakes in her cookies, she uses milk powder to give depth, and she uses freeze-dried or dried fruits for concentrated flavor. You can use anything that’s unusual, but that you think will be good in your baking.
Number nine – build layers of flavor. We know how to do this in cooking, but it’s perhaps more difficult in baking. Again, what Christina Tosi does is make something delicious, and then enhance it. She’ll make a birthday cake, and then she’ll pour a cake soak over it, maybe orange juice or some kind of flavored milk to add moisture and flavor to the cake. Then she’ll add the frosting, and then she’ll put the crumbs on. Each element has a distinct flavor and texture.
The crunch works well in a cake. You can also use that in ice cream – maybe make a biscuit crunch to sprinkle over ice cream. You can do this with any kind of desert. You can make a cheesecake without a crust, and then blend together some biscuits, some salt, and some butter to make a crumble, and sprinkle it over the rest of the cheesecake. You can combine that with some jam or some berries that you’ve reduced with some sugar. Whatever makes it delicious is usually a good idea. You’re celebrating the scraps; you’re using up things that you might not have used otherwise, and you’re being creative.
Number 10 – I love this – be fearlessly yourself, and develop your desert island recipe. I love this because I think baking is very complicated and difficult at times, but we can all find something that we really enjoy baking, something that’s really us, something that speaks of what we enjoy, and our own creativity and preferences. Share your personality through your desserts. Christina Tosi says “Cook with or bake with authenticity and joy when you’re breaking rules. Do it to stay true to your style.”
Your desert island recipe is your go-to recipe, the one that reflects you, your style, and your favorite flavors. It’s something like a signature dessert or cake, something that you love and that people associate with you, like chocolate for me. Refine it and personalize it until it becomes your thing; your calling card. You can really use this as an expression of your creativity.
What would be your ultimate dessert? For me, I think it would be something that involves chocolate and caramel, salted caramel with some kind of crunch.
I’m not sure exactly what it would be, but it would be a caramely and maybe chocolatey dessert. I’ll have to work on that one. I love the idea of adding crunch as well as smoothness, saltiness as well as sweetness, and just making it really fun.
This is the last episode I’m going to do in our series on Chefs for a while, though I’ll possibly do another one in the future. It’s very interesting to see what chefs have in common and what differences they have. I think a theme in all of their ideas is to really enjoy cooking, make it fun, and make it memorable. Do it as something that’s a passion, not just a chore. Whether you’re baking or cooking, make sure that you enjoy the process with your kids, with your family, and enjoy the fruits of your labors.
