My cousin is selling his fresh ground cornmeal at the farmers market this season. He’s been talking about expanding and trying some cornmeal-based products. We’d talk about ideas driving back and forth together to master gardener classes. We both liked the idea of cornmeal cookies, so I came up with a recipe. I’m not sure I’ll get him to make cookies for the market, but it was fun creating the recipe anyway.
If you love cornbread, you’ll love this cookie.
If you’re one of those people who loathe, despise, and abhor cornbread, forget that I mentioned cornmeal. You won’t even be sure what’s in here. It’s just a darn good cookie with an interesting texture and unique flavor complemented by the dusting of cardamom and sugar on top. Morgan came in from school as I was taking the last pan of cookies out of the oven. She (thinks she) doesn’t like cornbread. She ate a cookie then said, “These are good!”
Ha. (And of course I said nothing about the cornmeal in the recipe.) I gave some to my cousin to try and he said he could taste the cornmeal. Though I’d already told him they were cornmeal cookies, so that wasn’t exactly a blind taste test.
I’m experimenting, and I made this batch plain, but I think they would be excellent with raisins or any diced dried fruit, too. Blueberry-Cornmeal Cookies. Strawberry-Cornmeal Cookies. I’ll have to try that next time. Or you try it and tell me about it! Don’t let me experiment alone!
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How to make Cornmeal Cookies
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup hot water
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 cup raisins or diced blueberries, strawberries, etc (optional)
1 1/4 cups sugar
ground cardamom and sugar for sprinkling
Place cornmeal in a small bowl. Add 1/3 cup very hot water. Stir the water and cornmeal until the cornmeal is completely moistened. Let sit 10 minutes for the cornmeal to soften.
Cornmeal mush:
In a large bowl, measure flour, butter, baking soda, salt, almond extract, eggs, and the 1 1/4 cups sugar. Add softened cornmeal. Mix till well blended.
Stir in dried fruit, if using. Shape dough into logs and wrap.
Chill dough for two hours or until easy to handle. Cut slices and place on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
Combine 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle cardamom-sugar mixture on tops of cookies. Cardamom is a sweetly aromatic spice, and I think it’s underused. It suits the slight earthiness of this cookie. Pull out your cardamom!
Bake at 400-degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Cornmeal-icious!!!
Makes 3-4 dozen cookies, depending on size.
See this recipe at Farm Bell Recipes and save it to your recipe box.
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bonita says:
These look close to the cardamom-lemon polenta cookies I’ve tried. You’re right, if you don’t mention it, no one thinks of cornmeal.
On May 15, 2012 at 3:52 am
wildman says:
Sorry–How much Cream of tarter?
these good and easy and I want to try them.
Thanks!!!!
On May 15, 2012 at 4:18 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
I’m sorry, wildman, that was a leftover ingredient that I didn’t edit out. I was experimenting while I was writing up the recipe in the post. I was going to use cream of tartar, then decided at the last minute not to. I just took that out, thanks. Sorry about that!
On May 15, 2012 at 7:12 am
KarenAnne says:
How about his selling little pans of cornbread? They do that in the bakeries around here. They use disposable(sigh) aluminum thick foil pans about six by six inches more or less.
On May 15, 2012 at 8:04 am
lgoforth says:
Cornbread is one of my favorite foods! I can’t wait to get home from work and make this. They look wonderful.
On May 15, 2012 at 10:31 am
Sheila Z says:
How about a cornmeal cheese cracker?
Any chance your cousin is going to be selling his fresh ground cornmeal online?
On May 15, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Sheila Z says:
Maple peacan cornmeal biscuit?
On May 15, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Sheila Z says:
pecan…. I’ve been coughing my lungs out for a week…. I think it affected my spelling ability.
On May 15, 2012 at 2:52 pm
DancesInGarden says:
I think I see a use for some dried blueberries I have in the cupboard!
On May 15, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Donna says:
These look very interesting… will have to try them out! They sort of look like Snickerdoodles – or Cornerdoodles? LOL! In my family, somehow eating cornbread requires either maple syrup (most often) or honey (if you’re in a hurry), of course generously slathered with butter if it’s hot out of the oven :hungry: – it would be fun to try using one of those as a sweetener in stead of sugar. Not sure how that would compete with the cardamom… now you’ve got me inspired to experiment. Oh dear! :clover:
On May 16, 2012 at 7:31 am
Ms.Becky says:
these look really good. and moist.
On May 17, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Theresalarson says:
I had to tell you, these cookies are awesome!!! Just made some, used some dried strawberries. I can’t stop nibbling. Thank you for sharing.
On May 18, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Miss Judy says:
As I am going through some old cookbooks, trying to decide which ones to get rid of, I found a cornmeal cookie recipe. It is from a farm journal “Homemade Cookies” book.(1971 edition)This recipe just adds the cornmeal in with the other dry ingredients.
I haven’t used this book in over 20 years..but I can’t seem to turn loose! There are a couple of recipes that I know by heart…but I haven’t turned the pages in many, many moons!
On May 23, 2012 at 10:53 am