What I didn’t realize when putting together my list of favorite cookies for this countdown is that I am very obviously going through a ✨cornflake phase✨. There are cornflakes in Cakes of Paradise’s Butter Dream and, sneakily, in Good Luck Bread’s cereal cookie, too. Cereal in cookies isn’t anything new, of course. It first became a trend almost 20 years ago when Christina Tosi shocked the stuffy food world by putting a cereal milk panna cotta on the dessert menu at David Chang’s very hip and still relatively new restaurant, Momofuku, and BOOM! Cereal and cereal milk was being added to every pastry and dessert menu under the sun, including at Tosi’s eventual chain of dessert shops, Milk Bar.
Several of the cookies at Bell’s Cookie’s in Green Lake are very similar to what you’d find on the menu at Milk Bar, but before Milk Bar went corporate and mass production dragged their quality down a couple notches. Bell’s holiday seasonal (available until January 2) is the perfect example—white chocolate, cornflakes (technically Frosted Flakes, which is even better), and a peppermint crunch are all mixed into a chewy, crispy cookie base that is sweet, yes, but balanced. Balance is what made Milk Bar cookies so fucking good when they first launched—Tosi understood the power of salt! And it seems Bell’s Cookies does, too.
It tastes like something from Christina Tosi’s world pre-Whole Foods and Walmart partnerships. They also have a great corn cookie, which was one of Milk Bar’s early stars, though it’s crunchier and has a more cornbread-like flavor. Bell’s uses masa flour, while Tosi uses a blend of corn flour and corn powder (ground up freeze-dried corn kernels). A very different snack.
We're counting down to 2025 by sharing some of our favorite cookies on Slog every day in December! Because life is hard, and sugar helps. Will things get weird? Maybe! There may have been a small fire during the first photo shoot! But hopefully, you'll also discover some new favorite treats to enjoy this season. Track our daily recommendations here! 🍪
