Category: Cookies

Bite Size Desserts
Mighty Mouse? No, Mighty Jamie To Save the Day (12 Days of Cookies)

Mighty Mouse? No, Mighty Jamie To Save the Day (12 Days of Cookies)

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My Christmas present arrived early this year.  The twins are home!  Lucky for me Jamie is in a baking mood and immediately tackled one of our favorite cookie books, Dorie’s Cookies.  So, without further ado…

Heeeeeere’s Jamie with Day 3, 4, and 5 of our 12 Days of Cookies

Hey everyone! Jamie here. Home for the holidays!  I got home Thursday night, so naturally, I have already baked three different kinds of cookies.  I decided that mom needed some help with completing her “12 Days of Cookies” blog posts. Between you and me, she gets MAJORLY stressed when she bakes during the holidays, so knocking out three different cookies for her is really just me trying to make my holidays a lot more pleasant. But don’t tell her I said that.

To be honest, I’m really not a cookie person. I’d much rather eat a slice of super dense chocolate cake than a gooey chocolate chip cookie. Call me crazy, I know. I will say that baking cookies is a little more enjoyable than baking cakes.  It’s SO easy! They take a 3rd of the time to bake, and once you bake them you don’t have to spend extra time making more frosting or fillings which really means I only have to do dishes once. (HUGE).  

I picked these three cookies because they looked pretty easy to me, and their pictures in the cookbook looked pretty good.  The Swedish Visiting Cake Bars are better cold and almost have a custard-like taste to them.  My dad wasn’t super thrilled about all the almonds on top, but I think they add a nice crunch.  They are more cake-like than you would expect, but they have an awesome almond flavor that I am a huge sucker for. These cookie-cake bars definitely grew on me. The Snowy Topped Brownie Drops are basically small lumps of brownies with a ton of powdered sugar on them–what’s not to like??? Unless you don’t like chocolate.  My least favorite part of these cookies is that the dough must be chilled for at least 3 hours. I tend to get impatient and want to finish baking all in one fell swoop.  But my dad did say that they are his favorite of the three, so maybe it’s worth it. Last but not least, the Coffee Malteds cookies.  I made a tiny mistake (or a huge mistake if you talk to my mom) when I didn’t sift the malted milk powder before mixing it into the wet ingredients, so my cookies have some weird lumps of malted milk powder in them. But other than that, they taste pretty good (ps. you can’t even taste the weird lumps so w/e). I dipped them in chocolate, which in my opinion makes them 10000000 times better. We are taking the cookies to our annual pre-school cookie exchange tomorrow, so we’ll see which one is everyone’s favorite!

HI CLAIRE

Attention Java Junkies! Coffee Malteds: Day 5 of 12 Days of Cookies

Attention Java Junkies! Coffee Malteds: Day 5 of 12 Days of Cookies

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Coffee Malteds from Dorie’s Cookies a great cookie for all Java Junkies and even those that aren’t coffee lovers.  The addition of malted milk powder adds a nutty, vanilla, earthy flavor-a touch of Ovaltine in your cookie. To take them over the top, Jamie dipped them in chocolate, genius!

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Coffee Malteds from Dorie's Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups 204gms all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup 40gms unflavored malted milk powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into chunks, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup 100gms sugar
  • 1/4 cup 50gms packed light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground coffee preferably from espresso beans (or use instant or powdered coffee or espresso)
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Preheat it to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
  • Whisk the flour, malt powder, and baking powder together.
  • In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars, espresso, and salt together on medium speed until well blended, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, return to medium speed and, one by one, beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla, beating for 1 minute after each goes in.
  • Turn off the mixer, add the dry ingredients all at once and pulse, just to begin incorporating the flour and malt powder. When the risk of flying flour is passed, mix on low speed only until the dry ingredients disappear into the dough. You'll have a rather crumbly dough, but that's fine. Give the dough a few last turns with a sturdy flexible spatula and then reach in, knead if necessary and gather the dough into a ball.
  • Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out level portions of dough, or use a teaspoon to get rounded spoonfuls. Roll the dough into balls and place them an inch apart on the lined baking sheets.
  • Bake the cookies for 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back after 8 minutes. The cookies will be soft and golden only around the edges; they won't look done, and they're not—they'll firm as they cool. Transfer the sheets to racks and then, after about 10 minutes, carefully lift the cookies onto the racks to cool completely.
  • Do Ahead
  • Packed in a tightly covered container, the cookies will keep for up to 3 days (after that, they get firmer and are perfect for dunking...in coffee, of course). Wrapped airtight, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.
Ho Ho Ho! Yo-Yo’s are here! Day 2 Holiday Cookies

Ho Ho Ho! Yo-Yo’s are here! Day 2 Holiday Cookies

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Day 2 of 12 days of Cookies.  I am off to a slow start having posted the first cookie days ago.  But I promise, this cookie will make up for the wait.  Once again I found a delicious treat in Ottolenghi’s dessert book, Sweet. Yep, my new fav. I am a sucker for shortbread and their Yo-Yos are just that, buttery, melt in your mouth shortbread cookies. They didn’t stop there, the cookies are then paired with a luscious buttercream to make an absolutely delicious sandwich cookie. Perfect for a holiday cookie platter.

The cookies are made with custard powder, an English invention.  A thickening agent like cornstarch, the custard powder gives the cookies their sandy texture. The addition of annatto to the powder creates that lovely yellow-orange hue.  I found Bird’s Custard Powder at a local Indian supermarket, cornstarch can be used instead but I love the color from the Bird’s Custard.

The dough comes together quickly.  Dry ingredients are sifted into a bowl and butter cut into it. The mixture starts out very dry and crumbly but after adding the vanilla and increasing the speed of the mixer the dough comes together nicely.

Use a tablespoon ice cream scoop to measure out portions of dough. Roll each scoop into a smooth round ball and then smoosh each with a fork.

I have a confession to make.  I couldn’t find rhubarb so I substituted strawberries instead to make the buttercream.  The berries give the buttercream both flavor and color and make very striking sandwich cookies.  No wonder they call these cookies Yo-Yos.  Can’t wait until rhubarb is in season.

and to get you into the holiday baking mood….Mariah

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Ho Ho Ho! Yo-Yo’s are here! Day 2 Holiday Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 small stalk rhubarb trimmed, washed and cut into 1-inch lengths
  • 4 1/2 tbs unsalted butter room temperature, cubed
  • 1 cup plus 2 tbs confectioner's sugar
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Dough

  • 1 1/3 cups plus 2 tbs all-purpose flour Plus 1 tbs for dusting
  • 1/2 cup custard powder can use cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tbs confectioner's sugar
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature, cubed
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract use 1/2 tsp if using cornstarch

Instructions
Twelve Days of Cookies Starts… NOW (Saffron, Orange and Honey Madeleines)

Twelve Days of Cookies Starts… NOW (Saffron, Orange and Honey Madeleines)

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This holiday season I am determined to post a Twelve Days of Cookies list and I will only stand a chance if I start now. This month Food 52 Baking Club is featuring Ottolenghi’s book Sweet authored with Helen Goh, his dessert partner in crime. As with all Ottolenghi books, this one is beautiful, worthy of your coffee table, but more importantly, worthy of use in your kitchen.

A long long time ago in a kitchen somewhere far away, I tried to make madeleines.  I flopped, and since then my madeleines pans have been relegated to the back of a kitchen cabinet.  Looking for a recipe to try for National Cookie Day (yesterday, hope you made a batch) I came across Ottolenghi’s Saffron, Orange and Honey Madeleines.  They looked and sounded so delicious I decided to pull out my forgotten pans and give it the old college try.

I’m glad I did.  The madeleines are buttery, cakey, tender, everything a madeleine should be and more.

The batter is made in a food processor (oh snap). Eggs and sugar are whirled in the processor, flour and leavening added, pulse a couple more times and then add the saffron infused melted butter. The batter is poured into a WELL BUTTERED AND FLOURED pan (trust me on this) and baked for 7-9 minutes.  In those short minutes, your entire kitchen will be blanketed by the aroma of vanilla, butter, and orange, heavenly.

The cooled madeleines are popped out of their shells (haha, get it?) painted with heated honey (watch your fingers, the honey is hot) and one end rolled in ground pistachios.

So good.  If you don’t have a madeleine pan you could probably use a mini-muffin tin…they’ll still be delicious but they just won’t be the same (sigh).

You can find the recipe on Bon Apetit but without weight measurements (boohoo). If I were you I’d splurge and get the book, totally worth it!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:150]

 
Will Blog for Food (Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook)

Will Blog for Food (Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook)

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I received an e-mail from a publisher a couple of weeks ago. They had come across my blog and wanted to know if I would like to review a book they had coming out. Me? I was flattered (my aw-shucks, you really like me moment). Wait, this isn’t some ploy to get me to buy another book is it? So I asked “Do I have to send the book back?  I hate mailing stuff.  I GET TO KEEP IT?!  Sure I’ll do it!” The last thing I needed was another baking book as I am the owner of way too many cookbooks. As space on my shelf grows tight I have had to be selective about which books I get and keep.  BUT THIS WAS FREE. So what the heck!  When I did receive my copy of Miranda Couse’s Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook I felt like I was getting an extra birthday gift.  I flipped through the book for an initial look just to size it up. I noted the extensive section on essentials, ingredients, and how-tos. Great for beginners. The cookies are organized by types such as drops, classics, brownies and bars, slice and bake and holiday treats. There are tips and variations interspersed throughout the book, very informative. Each page is user-friendly with the ingredients and quantities listed on the left and instructions on the right. Every recipe is preceded by a highlighted box with prep time, baking time, how many cookies and shelf life, love that. There are photos every couple of pages but not one for each cookie.  Bummers.  But the photos included are well-staged and close-up, you know exactly what the cookie should look like.

Now to the serious stuff. I tried two recipes, the Blueberry Lemon Shortbread and Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownie. Both were straightforward and easy to make, especially the shortbread. The cookie is buttery, very lemony which really creates a nice contrast with the blueberries. Dried blueberries are used which I think intensifies the flavor. Really delicious cookie. The brownies were a bit more effort with the 2 batters but worth it. They are decadent, gooey and dense. The sweetness is tempered by the hit of espresso powder. Next time I might add chocolate chips to the brownie batter just to amp up chocolate. Double yums.

Despite having a zillion cookie books, I am making room on my shelf for this one. It is easy, straightforward, well organized and more importantly, the recipes work. I know Jamie is going to love it.  Holiday baking here we come.

This would be the perfect stocking stuffer for novice bakers and cookie lovers!

 
Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

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This month’s Food52 Baking Book Club features Stella Park’s BraveTart.  You may remember I previously blogged about her delicious Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies and the debacle of using the printed version in People magazine.  BIG MISTAKE. About a month ago, Omnivore Books hosted Ms.Parks, being a cookbook junkie, I jumped in my car and headed to the City to attend. Got my very own SIGNED copy, uh-huh, uh-huh..doing the happy dance.

Talented dessert chef, blogger, and author of Marbled, Swirled and Layered, Irvin Lin was on hand to moderate the conversation.  Which just proves there is a conspiracy going on as I was FORCED to buy not just one new cookbook but two. Now I have to find shelf-room for his book too. Aiyah!

After her talk, I waited patiently while one woman monopolized the Q&A session (sheesh-some people), they finally picked me and I blurted out “I’m the one who tweeted about processing the honey roasted nuts” and recounted the horrible editing job of her recipe in People magazine. I think of it as a cautionary public service tale for everyone.

And with her great southern drawl (she is from Kentucky) she said: “Oh I know, I hate when they edit recipes and get it wrong!”

I was vindicated.

The book is a reflection of her, warm, friendly and gracious.  BraveTart is a love tome to iconic American treats. The book works due to her attention to detail and thoroughness.  She has reworked recipes such as Oreos and Nutter Butters and transformed them into delicious homey treats while retaining the essence of the original dessert that you remember so well from childhood. With the first bite of her Triple Oatmeal Cookie, I was immediately transported back to my 12-year-old self, reaching into the familiar pink-purple bag of Mother’s Oatmeal Cookies.

Her Triple Oatmeal Cookies are delicious, chewy, toothy cookies. The cookies contain old-fashioned oatmeal, steel cut oats and oat flour, the triple whammy of Oatsville.  Cranberries and pecans are added and provide sweetness and crunch, a scrumptious cookie. Feel free to substitute different dried fruit. Interestingly enough Stella posted that raisins will cause or allow the cookies to spread more than cranberries so keep that in mind.  Dried cherries or diced apricots would be amazing also.  Chocolate chips would, of course, work well also.

I made the dough and followed the instructions to bake the cookies on a foil-lined sheet.  To my surprise, the cookie spread was more than expected.  The first batch was thin, almost like lace cookies. Channeling America’s Test Kitchen I baked subsequent batches on parchment and then on a Silpat.  Here are the results, everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words.

So, the cookies on the left were baked on Silpat, center- parchment, right-foil. An Ah-ha moment.  Like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, “This cookie (right) is too thin, this one (left) is too thick, the center cookie is JUST RIGHT!” Note to self, bake these cookies on parchment.

In the end, they were all good, chewy, buttery, crispy edges and full of oat goodness. They were gobbled up.

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Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (not too soft)
  • ⅔ cup 5 ounces packed light brown sugar
  • ½ cup 3 ½ ounces granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt a bit less if you use Morton’s kosher salt, half the amount if it’s regular table salt plus additional salt (if you wish) for sprinkling
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • ⅔ cup 3 ounces all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup 2 ½ ounces oat flour (alternatively, grind old-fashioned rolled oats in a blender)
  • 1 ⅔ cups 6 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
  • ¼ cup 1 ½ ounces steel-cut oats
  • 1 ¼ cups 5 ounces toasted pecan pieces
  • 1 cup 6 ounces dried cranberries or cherries, if you use raisins the cookies will spread a bit more

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat until combined. Add egg and continue beating until light and creamy.
  • Whisk together flour, oat flour and both oatmeal types. Stir in pecans and cranberries. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined. Batter will be stiff.
  • Arrange portions of dough (about 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons each) onto lined baking sheets. Flatten into disks and optionally sprinkle each with a bit of kosher salt.
  • Bake in preheated oven 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown on edges but still pale in the middle.
  • Let cool on baking sheet a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Pictures from a cookbook groupie! When will I learn to hold my phone higher?
Lemon Cookie Very Pretty & The Cookie Is So Sweet (Blueberry-Lemon Shortbread)

Lemon Cookie Very Pretty & The Cookie Is So Sweet (Blueberry-Lemon Shortbread)

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Blueberry-Lemon Shortbread from Miranda Couse’s  Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook is a winner.  These cookies remind me of my favorite scones which have dried blueberries and lemon zest in them. As soon as I spied the recipe I knew I had to try it. The cookies are made with powdered sugar which helps to create a tender cookie. A combination of lemon juice and lemon zest give the cookies their tart, lemony flavor.  Want less pucker? Substitute Meyer lemon or a combination of lemon and orange juice in the cookie.  The use of dried blueberries in these delicious morsels intensifies the berry flavor and provides a foil to the lemon.  Trader Joe’s carries wild dried blueberries that work perfectly.

The dough is rolled out to approximately 3/8-1/2 inch thickness.  I’m sure the dough if chilled, would be firm enough to shape into a log for slice and bake cookies.  As I sat munching on one the thought occurred to me that dried cranberries and orange would also be delicious.  Can’t wait to make my next batch.  If you try a different flavor combination, let me know!

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Lemon Blueberry Shortbread from Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook

Delicious citrus-berry, buttery cookie!
Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword blueberry, cookies, lemon, Lemon blueberry shortbread, Shortbread

Ingredients

  • MAKES ABOUT 12 COOKIES
  • Prep: 15 minutes Chill: 30 minutes
  • Bake: 14 to 15 minutes
  • Shelf Life: 4 to 5 days
  • ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 7 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
  • 1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon table salt
  • ¼ cup chopped dried blueberries Feel free to substitute other dried fruit, great combo would be orange and dried cranberries, use your imagination, like lime and strawberry

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed or a wooden spoon, beat together the butter and both sugars until light and creamy. This will take about 3 minutes if using an electric mixer or 5 to 6 minutes if creaming by hand. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and beat to combine. Add the flour and salt, and beat on low speed or by hand until the dough comes together about 1 minute. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries until incorporated.
  • Place the dough between two sheets of wax paper or parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to an even ½-inch thickness. Wrap the dough in the paper and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Rechill if they seem soft.
  • Bake 14-15 minutes until edges are golden brown. Start checking at 12 minutes!
  • Let the cookies rest on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
  • Like many shortbread, flavors will develop and the cookie will be even better the next day!
A Tale of Two Cookbooks (Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownies)

A Tale of Two Cookbooks (Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownies)

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For those familiar with Food52 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, I received two cookbooks this past week that made me feel like one of the judges for the tourney.  In a nutshell, The Piglet is like March Madness, sixteen cookbooks go head to head, winner goes on, loser goes home. Judges are selected by Food52 staff and they are not just from the culinary world, but artists, writers, journalists (no pharmacists yet hint, hint) who read and cook from each book and pick their favorite.  Pairings are eclectic and at times exasperating (Robicelli’s Cupcakes vs.The Persian Table, go figure). But that’s what makes it interesting and so much fun.

Tribute to The Piglet

Which brings me back to the two cookbooks I received, Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook and Kristen Kish Cooking.  One homey, approachable, familiar and the other dazzling, appealing, intimidating-polar opposites.

I’ll start with the familiar. Miranda Couse’s Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook (not the catchiest title), is a compendium of standard and favorite cookie recipes.  I know, do I need another cookie book? Nope.  But this one does deserve a spot on my bookshelf and yours. The recipes are well organized, straightforward, and easy to follow.  Helpful tips and recipe tweaks are interspersed throughout the book and each recipe starts with a blurb on how many cookies it makes, baking temperature and time and their shelf life. There are photos but not for every recipe which would have been nice. The book is divided into types of cookies including drop cookies, bars and brownies, and sandwich cookies to name a few.  I have tried two recipes so far and both have passed the taste test.  The first cookie that caught my eye was a Blueberry-Lemon Shortbread which is so good, it deserves its own post.  The second recipe I tried, though brownies are not my thing, was the Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownies. Chocolatey and decadent, the cocoa brownie layer provided a dense, gooey base for the luscious coffee spiked cream cheese top.  I made new friends when I showed up to work with these bad boys.

Pour dollop and swirl, the name of the game.

As I flipped through the book a thought kept running through my mind, Jamie would love this book and I plan to get her a copy of her own.

A nod to Kristen Kish’s cookbook which I will save for a weekend to read, drool over and tackle. Stay tuned.

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Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownies

Ingredients

  • MAKES 9 BROWNIES
  • Prep: 25 minutes
  • Bake: About 35 minutes
  • Shelf Life: 4 to 5 days

For the Brownies:

  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
  • 1¼ cups granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon instant coffee granules

For the Cheesecake

  • 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules.

Instructions

To make brownie:

  • 1.Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray. (or use parchment paper)
  • 2.In a medium mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.
  • 3.In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed or a wooden spoon, beat together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and coffee granules until thick and creamy. This will take about 2 minutes if using an electric mixer or 4 to 5 minutes if creaming by hand. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed or by hand until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
  • 4.Reserve about ¼ cup of the brownie batter for the top. Transfer the remaining brownie batter to the prepared pan and smooth it out into an even layer.

To make the cheesecake

  • 1.In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed or a wooden spoon, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until light and creamy. This will take about 1 minute if using an electric mixer or 2 to 3 minutes if creaming by hand. Add the egg and instant coffee, and beat to incorporate.
  • 2.Using a spoon, dollop the cheesecake batter on top of the brownie mix. Add a dollop of the reserved ¼ cup of the brownie batter in the center of each cheesecake dollop. Using a skewer or butter knife, swirl the batters together.
  • 3.Bake for about 35 minutes, until the top is set.
  • 4.Let the brownies cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours to set.
  • To serve, cut into 9 bars. Serve the bars chilled or let them come to room temperature before serving.
  • Add more chocolate to create a rich, dense brownie. Do so by melting 4 ounces of semisweet baking chocolate with the butter or add 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to batter.

 

 
Corn Cookies If You Bake It, They Will Come (Momofuku)

Corn Cookies If You Bake It, They Will Come (Momofuku)

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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.

These cookies require beating the butter, sugar, and eggs for 7-8 minutes. Don’t skimp!
I used a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop to measure out the dough. This gives you uniform cookies.
Lightly press cookie dough to approximately 1/3-1/2 inch thickness and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

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.

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Momofuku Corn Cookies

Chewy, buttery, crispy edges, a cookie that taste like corn on the cob
Course cookies, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword christina tosi, corn cookies, momfuku
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes

Ingredients

Creamed Mixture

  • 16 tablespoons 2 sticks unsalted butter (225gm)
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 300 gm
  • 1 large egg

Dry Ingredients

  • 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.