Brian & Caroline's house. Astoria. 9:00 PM, Saturday, August 21st.

Momofuku Milk Bar's malted chocolate cake. It contains toasted marshmallows. YUM.

Mousse tarts, ricotta cheesecake and cream horns from Veniero's. DROOL.

Where cereal adds the crunch.

No visit to Momofuku Ssäm Bar would be complete without a dessert pit stop at the adjoining Momofuku Milk Bar. Milk Bar's staff, headed by pastry chef Christina Tosi, is famous for combining the salty and sweet into unique and often nostalgic desserts.

Cereal milk is bottled for drinking and made into soft-serve ice cream; cinnamon buns become pies; cakes are ringed in confetti. It's not hard to understand why the place is a massive hit, especially with 20- and 30-somethings raised on the giddiness-inducing sugary cereals of the 70s and 80s.

After our latest bo ssäm adventure, we decided to head over to Milk Bar for a sweets fix. I went for ice cream, choosing the cinnamon soft serve with cornflake crunch topping. It was delicious, and the texture was wonderful - silky smooth and creamy. That said, I thought the ice cream was a bit too salty (and I'm someone who likes salt with her sweets). If salt has become the dominant flavor, it's no longer doing its job as an enhancer, and that was the case here. That said, Miriam's cereal milk soft serve with the same topping? Awesomeness.

I've still found nothing to beat the cornflake-chocolate chip cookie or the cinnamon bun pie, though. YUM. (Also, out-of-towners take note: some Momofuku Milk Bar goodies are available for shipment!)

Momofuku Milk Bar
207 2nd Avenue (Corner of 13th Street)
212.254.3500

Bring on the buttah.

Last Tuesday night, Nick, Louisa, Jeremy, Miriam and I went for dessert at Momofuku Milk Bar. We ordered an insane assortment of desserts, including the chocolate chip cake (Miriam's favorite), crack pie (like shoofly, but better), cookies, cookies, cookies, and cinnamon bun pie (my personal favorite).

I, of course, had to buy a cookie or two for the next day. I sprang for a blueberry cream, which I shared for breakfast with my friend Mary, and a chocolate chip-cornflake-marshmallow, which I saved for my mid-afternoon snack.

It was, predicatbly, delicious. One of the secrets of a fantastic cookie is, of course, not slacking on the butter. If you're going to do it, go whole hog. Given the transparency of their paper bag the next morning, I can confirm that these cookies are buttery to the max. Another secret is finding the perfect balance of salty and sweet, another place Momofuku (mostly) excels. While a couple of their items are a bit too simply sweet for me, most, like this cookie, are a perfect blend of salt, sugar, crunch and chew.

And butter. Lots and lots of butter.

(Don't forget - if you live in parts distant, you can make your own chocolate chip-cornflake-marshmallow cookies, thanks to Ms. Lorna Yee!)

Momofuku Milk Bar
207 Second Avenue
Corner of 13th Street
212.254.3400

Cookie monster.

I'm sure many of you are sick and tired of hearing me sing the praises of David Chang's Momofuku mini-empire. But know this: if you skip this post, you'll miss out on some damn good cookies.

My friend Lorna Yee (fabulous food writer and cookbook author) lives in Seattle, far from the warm reaches of Momofuku pastry chef Christina Tosi's deliciously retro Milk Bar creations (I think of them as comfort goodies for those born in the 70s and early 80s.). She attended a New Year's brunch where the host had ordered some Milk Bar cookies online, and couldn't get enough of the chocolate chip, cornflake and marshmallow ones. Lorna was "besotted by their butterscotch-sweet and salty flavor, and their crunchy, cornflake texture," and so she set to experimenting with a copycat version.

I officially declare them a success. I made a batch last Friday, to bring on the road trip to Rhode Island, and my cousin Abby - who's had the original - didn't even realize that I'd made them until I told her about Lorna's quest. They're just as Lorna described: rich with butter, sweet with caramel flavors from the dark brown sugar, and crunchy from the cornflakes (of which, I will admit, I added an extra handful or two).

Mine didn't turn out quite as pretty as Lorna's, but, then, she has the golden touch when it comes to pastry. I'm ok with that, especially since I'm fairly confident that mine were just as tasty.