'Cookie Milk' Is The Secret For The Best Cake Of Your Life

Cookies and milk are an iconic flavor pairing. The Oreo slogan is "milk's favorite cookie," and Milk & Cookies is even a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor. When those sweet baked crumbles meet creamy, refreshing milk, the taste just works. That's why we're exploring a way to use the cookies-and-milk flavor duo to upgrade another beloved treat. It's time to take your go-to cake recipe to the next level with a splash of cookie milk.

To be clear, "cookie milk" is the sweetened, cookie-flavored remnants in the glass after dunking your cookies in a glass of milk, not unlike cereal milk after a bowl of Frosted Flakes. It's delicious to drink on its own (before rushing off to watch Saturday morning cartoons), but it can also function as a knockout ingredient for adding dimensional flavor and lush moisture to your next cake. To incorporate it, simply swap the milk or heavy cream in your regular cake batter recipes for cookie milk. With denser cakes like pound cake or Bundt cake, you could even drizzle your still-warm cake fresh out of the oven with a bit of cookie milk to soak into the top of the cake for a flavorful finishing touch and moist bite. This tip can also work to elevate store-bought boxed cake mixes (The Caker is our favorite brand, for the record). Just substitute cookie milk in for the water amount on the box directions, or use half water, half cookie milk for less richness.

To make cookie milk, just grab a cookie or two and soak them in a shallow dish of regular milk (or, for a dairy-free version, full-fat oat or soy milk). The cookies should be fully submerged and allowed to soak for long enough that they're softened but not totally dissolving and breaking apart. This soak duration will depend on the softness of the cookie you've chosen, so keep an eye on your soaking beauties to pull 'em out at the right moment. Any stray cookie crumbles can be caught with a pass through a mesh sieve. You could use homemade cookies here (a thrifty way to use up an almost-stale batch), or opt for a bag of store-bought cookies like soft-baked Pepperidge Farms for quicker prep time.

Now for the fun part: Brainstorming cookie milk and cake flavor pairings. This strawberry sponge cake and this blueberry almond Chantilly lace cake would both be delicious soaked with sugar cookie milk. You could elevate this dreamy decadent chocolate mousse cake with double chocolate chip cookie milk, or take classic white cake to the next level with confetti cookie milk. As a general rule, sweet, accessible chocolate chip cookie milk will taste great alongside pretty much any cake flavor. For an extra playful and flavorful frosting, combine more of that cookie milk with some confectioner's sugar and beat it into a whipped spread using an electric mixer.