Corn Cookies If You Bake It, They Will Come (Momofuku)
Tried and True
Two cookies have shown up in photos in previous posts that have never been given their just due, Christina Tosi’s Corn Cookies and Brown Butter Salted Rice Krispy Treats from Smitten Kitchen. After trying a couple of new cookie recipes that were not up to snuff, I decided to make one of these tried and true recipes to help get my cookie mojo back. The hubster lobbied for Corn Cookies so I pulled the cornflour and freeze-dried corn kernels out of the pantry, the combo that gives these cookies their one-two corn punch, and got busy.
Summer Sunshine in a Cookie
I adore these cookies. Each bite tastes like buttery, sweet-salty corn on the cob. I imagine myself baking a batch of these at the end of every summer to soften the blow of NO MORE fresh corn at my local farmer’s market.
Yep, I love these cookies. So good and yet people seem to gravitate toward that plate of chocolate chip cookies. These corn cookies are deceptively unassuming and often get passed up for cookies with bling (chips, candy bar pieces, the kitchen sink). Sometimes I don’t say anything so I can take the cookies home for myself. Most of the time I say “Try it, you’ll like it!”, and invariably I end up going home with an empty platter.
Corn-y Tips
The original recipe calls for bread flour but all-purpose flour can be used. My theory is all-purpose flour causes the cookie to spread a little more and flatten out. Bread flour has more protein giving the cookie more structure. Corn Flour (Bob’s Red Mill) as well as the freeze-dried corn (Just Tomatoes), can be found at Whole Foods and online at Amazon. Grind the freeze-dried corn in a food processor or crush it with a rolling pin. I make my cookies smaller using a scant 1/4 cup scoop which shortens the baking time to 10-12 minutes. These cookies are like that ray of sunshine that warms your face and makes you smile. Put them on your cookie bucket list! 🍪🍪🍪🍪/☀️☀️☀️☀️
Fabulous Ferry Building- I Left my Tastebuds in San Francisco
On a weekly Farmer’s Market foray, I headed to the City (yes, San Francisco) to the Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building. A typical visit to the Ferry Building includes:
- Momos (Nepalese dumplings) from Bini’s Kitchen
- Coffee from Red Bay and enjoying the fantastic view
- A quick peruse of books at Book Passage, a small but mighty outpost of this Indie book store. They know their books!
- Empanadas from El Porteno Get ready to wait in line.
- Cookies from Batter Bakery Their Sand Angel Cookie is glorious. So sad they don’t have their store on Polk now 😢
- Getting whatever produce is in season, any gorgeous fruits and vegetables!
- Miso & Shio Koji from Aedan which now has a grocery store with her delicious bentos in the Mission
But I digress, my latest find at the Ferry Building is a local farm, Tierra Vegetables in Winsor that mills cornmeal from its own dried corn crops. Omgoodness, the array of cornmeals in a rainbow of colors is amazing. The aroma of toasted corn explodes as soon as you open the bag. Simply the best. I’ve tried their toasted black cornmeal which has a fine texture and toasty flavor, really dynamite in these cookies.
My latest batch uses their Hopi Pink Cornmeal, lighter and more subtle in flavor, if you’re lucky you’ll get one with ruby pink flecks. Their cornmeals are milled fine so I use it in place of the corn flour. The corn varietals also have varying hardness. Talk to them, they’ll tell you which one is best for cornbread or cookies.
Momofuku Corn Cookies
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons 2 sticks unsalted butter (225gm)
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 300 gm
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour 225 gm
- 1/4 cup corn flour 45gm
- 2/3 cup freeze-dried corn 65 gm finely ground
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 3gm
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1.5 gm
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 6gm or half the amount of table salt
Instructions
- Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, cornflour, corn powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Using a 2 3/4-ounce ice cream scoop (or a 1/3-cup measure), portion out the dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. Do not bake your cookies from room temperature they will not bake properly.
- Heat the oven to 350°F.
- Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pans. Bake for 18 minutes. The cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. After 18 minutes, they should be faintly browned on the edges yet still bright yellow in the center; give them an extra minute if not.
- Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or to an airtight container for storage. At room temp, the cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.