Sweet tooths have flocked to CityCenterDC ever since chef/owner Christina Tosi opened her first DC branch of Milk Bar last week. The Springfield native brought her signature cereal-milk soft serve and crack pie from the New York City flagship, but also introduced items exclusive to DC: a passionfruit-jam-and-compost-cookie-granola parfait, and another made with yuzu jam and Thai tea granola. Lucky for anyone adverse to waiting in lines, Tosi gave us the recipes—and they’re easy enough for a beginner home cook.
You can use whatever brand of yogurt and jam you want for the parfaits. The two recipes are for the creative, crunchy granola toppings, plus assembly. We could imagine snacking on any leftovers, or using them to top ice cream for a fun dessert. Note that the first recipe doesn’t actually require compost cookies, but takes inspiration from the salty-sweet mix.
Passionfruit-Jam-and-Compost-Cookie-Granola Parfait
⅓ cup (68 grams) olive oil
¼ cup (68 grams) brown-rice syrup (available at Whole Foods)
1 cup (115 grams) whole oats
1 cup (55 grams) mini pretzels
3 tablespoons (35 grams) light brown sugar
⅓ cup (55 grams) graham crackers, crushed into a powder
1 teaspoon (2 grams) coffee grounds
¾ teaspoon (3 grams) salt
½ cup (70 grams) mini chocolate chips
- Heat oven to 275 degrees. Coat a 9″x13″ baking sheet with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together olive oil and brown-rice syrup in a small bowl.
- In a medium bowl, use your hands or a spoon to toss together oats, pretzels, brown sugar, graham crackers, and coffee.
- Drizzle the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and mix them all together, either by hand or spoon until well-combined.
- Spread granola mixture on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, take pan out of oven and toss with a spoon. Put the granola back into the oven and set a timer for another 20 minutes. At the next 20 minutes, spoon, mix, and repeat. Pop the granola back into the oven for the last 20 minutes. Remove from oven. The granola should be golden brown. Let cool completely.
- Mix in mini chocolate chips once the granola has cooled.
- In a bowl or cup, layer your favorite passionfruit jam at the bottom, then plain yogurt and top with compost-cookie granola.
Yuzu-Jam-and-Thai-Tea-Granola Parfait
¼ cup (55 grams) olive oil
2 ½ tablespoons (55 grams) brown-rice syrup (available at Whole Foods)
1 cup (115 grams) whole oats
½ cup (55 grams) puffed rice cereal
2 ½ tablespoons (30 grams) sugar
⅓ cup (42 grams) almonds, slivered or chopped
2 teaspoons (4 grams) Thai tea leaves*
1½ teaspoons (10 grams) powdered lemon iced tea mix**
¾ teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt
½ cup (70 grams) dried mango, diced
- Heat oven to 275 degrees. Coat a 9″x13″ baking sheet with nonstick spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil and brown-rice syrup.
- In a medium bowl, use your hands or a spoon to mix oats, rice cereal, sugar, almonds, Thai tea, iced tea mix, and salt.
- Drizzle the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and mix them all together, either by hand or spoon until well combined.
- Spread granola mixture on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, take pan out of oven and toss with a spoon. Put the granola back into the oven and set a timer for another 20 minutes. At the next 20 minutes, spoon, mix, and repeat. Pop the granola back into the oven for the last 20 minutes. Remove from oven. The granola should be golden brown. Let cool completely.
- Mix in diced mango once the granola has cooled.
- In a bowl or cup, layer your favorite citrus jam at the bottom (we love yuzu!), then add plain yogurt and top with Thai-tea granola.
*Here at Milk Bar, we used Thai tea leaves. If you can’t find your way to an Asian supermarket, cut a Lipton (or any black tea) bag and sprinkle the tea in with the oats.
**At Milk Bar we love the Lipton Powdered Lemon Ice Tea Powder, and found that it gives just the right citrus kick in this granola. We also love to eat the powder with a spoon, like a “grown-up” Fun Dip!
