Milk Street Digital Class: Smoky, Bitter & Sweet: Secret Ingredient Cookies with Benjamina Ebuehi

What’s on the Menu:
Preserved Lemon & Olive Oil Cookies
Halvah & Smoked Salt Cookies
White Chocolate Rye & Pretzel Cookies

Move over, chocolate chip. Step aside, snickerdoodle. Sorry, cocoa crinkle: there are new cookies in town this summer. Join guest chef Benjamina Ebuehi of Great British Bake Off fame and author of “I’ll Bring Dessert” at this pre-recorded class where you’ll learn three spins on classic cookies that just might dethrone your standards. First, Benjamina shows you how to use preserved lemon peel and olive oil to give simple sugar cookies a bit of grown-up attitude. Plus, the strategic use of olive oil means you don’t have to cream butter and sugar, which has to be the least fun part of the cookie equation. More of a chocolate person? We have two options for you. You can complement dark chocolate’s richness with sesame halva and spike a double chocolate cookie with smoked salt. Or you can become the most popular person at the party when you roll in with a skillet-sized cookie—don’t worry, you’ll learn how to bake it perfectly—studded with white chocolate and pretzels in a dough that features two unexpected ingredients. As we bake, Benjamina covers baking essentials, including how to chill and freeze cookie dough for the future and which cookies are her favorites for ice cream sandwiches. Quick-cooking, easily adaptable and immensely crowd-pleasing, these cookies are our new favorite summer desserts.