If you’re the sort of person to whom Christina Tosi is a celebrity, I’m happy to report that she is exactly as charming and delightful in real life as you think she is. She’s a frequent guest in the studio at TODAY and I’ve been to a few events with her at the Milk Bar flagship store, which has a demo kitchen downstairs with dozens of sparkly disco balls dangling from the ceiling. Known for her signature paisley bandana, Christina provides one at every work station for media guests to get the look. Of course whimsy is baked into the Milk Bar brand, both from an aesthetic standpoint and when it comes to the playful nostalgia of her most famous creations, like cereal milk soft serve. The message is: dessert is fun, remember?
Christina seems to be full of Elf-style good cheer year round, but over the holidays she kicks into an even higher gear, like a Rockette. I interviewed her last week at the launch of her newest treat, an eggnog English toffee cookie. Is there a drink that is more singularly associated with an American holiday than eggnog is with Christmas? Festive, seasonal, a limited-time-offering before LTO was overused to the point of meaninglessness by chains like Starbucks. Perfect flavor inspiration– but how to turn a cocktail into a cookie?
In addition to the clever use of vanilla pudding powder in the batter that mimics the velvety milkshake-ness of the drink, Christina put considerable thought into evoking a glass of eggnog, with a frothy head and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. She said the visual impact is something she’s always considering when developing a recipe.
“The way I think about it is, we eat with our eyes first,” she told me. “We always have, but especially now, because we all have phones and often we’re seeing something there before we taste it. So knowing that, as bakers, we’re all trying to figure out: how do I differentiate my desserts? You can make something taste good, but how do you convey that it tastes good?” In this case, she recreated that look by icing the cookie with a thick sugar glaze and a shake of finishing sugar that brings both shimmer and crunch.
I’ve noticed that Christina’s recipes tend to fall into two different camps. Some are incredibly simple. Forget about one-bowl wonders: I went to a class she hosted with Ziploc where we made chocolate peanut butter puppy chow using nothing more than pantry staples and plastic bags. I inhaled a party-sized portion of it on the car ride home and pretended we didn’t get any to take with us.
On the other end of the spectrum are elaborate and ambitious projects. Of course, Christina built an empire around a now-iconic birthday cake that Willy Wonka-fies the taste of funfetti from a box but with fancy textural elements, like a soak for moisture and frosting studded with pebble-sized shortbread crumbs. She may give off a casual cool-girl vibe, but Christina takes her job incredibly seriously. “800,000 people celebrate a birthday, every day in the world,” she noted. I couldn’t believe she knew a stat like that off the top of her head, but then again, that technically makes everyone a potential customer. “Well, I’m in the business of birthdays,” she said, and I swear she winked.
The eggnog cookie is the best of both worlds, from a home cook’s perspective. The batter is a one-bowl dump-and-stir situation, and is delicious on its own without the toppings. But Christina has found that bakers are willing to take an extra step to gild the lily this time of year. These are win-the-cookie-swap cookies. I wrote about her number-one tip for holiday baking here, and you’ll find the recipe there as well.
I typed “Tosi” into my inbox to find the transcript from our interview, and stumbled upon this incredibly un-chill email I wrote to some friends in 2012 about going to an event where she was a speaker. At the time I worked at Vanity Fair, where nobody ate anything, let alone the homemade desserts I used to bring in to share before I gave up. If you had told me that someday I’d be spending one-on-one time with her for my job I think I would’ve fainted.
Speaking of jobs, I’m supposed to be on maternity leave. Funnily enough I seem to be running my very own milk bar…
Need this cookie ASAP❣️
And loved the interview. The deeper I've gotten into cooking/food culture the last few years, the more I appreciate the Christinas of the world: just total joy for their craft and respect for the people who engage with their work. Love to hear how lovely she is!