These cookies were a true trial-and-error process. A proper research-and-development project. Three iterations, and I finally got them to a place that I think will be good for the State Fair.
I first made these with olive oil, and they turned out… fine. I used a vanilla butter extract that I don’t think meshed well with the olive oil flavor. Then, I made them with melted butter instead. Those were much better. But they weren’t amazing. The honey flavor wasn’t crazy strong, and they were just sort of… whatever? Not bad, but… not great.
So I retooled again and decided to incorporate some corn powder and up the salt content a bit. I also browned the butter, hoping that would make them more exciting. I just really wanted them to stand out!
Turns out… browning the butter solves any number of problems. Ditto with adding corn powder. After those tweaks, these became just a much more interesting cookie. Layers of flavors, reminiscent of cornbread with honey and butter. Some extra nuttiness and depth…. Delicious.
So now I won’t be afraid to enter these in the Fair. Will they win? Likely not. But I think they’re way more exciting now! And nobody can say I didn’t work for my entries, or didn’t take them seriously.
The trial and error baking process is something I find enjoyable, but it also just does not feel sustainable for a home baker. I had three batches of cookies just from this! There’s only so many cookies I can eat or give out to people! I have other things I want to bake! I’m not sure how the big bloggers do it.
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PinIngredients
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp high quality honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup butter, melted and browned
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup freeze-dried corn powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Brown your butter, and allow it to cool slightly.
- Whisk together brown butter, honey, and powdered sugar. Add egg and vanilla.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients and then add them all to the wet ingredients. Fold until combined, but don’t over-mix.
- Refrigerate the dough in the bowl for 15 minutes (or as long as it takes to tidy up). Refrigerating the dough will make the dough easier to work with.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Form the dough into small balls, (one inch in diameter).
- Flatten the balls of cookie dough with your fingers, the bottom of a glass or a cookie stamp. The cookies should be about 1/3 inch thick. If you’re using a cookie stamp, you will need to lightly flour the top of the cookies so that the dough won’t stick to the cookie stamp.
- Allow the cookies to rest for 5 minutes before baking them.
- Place the cookies on a cookie sheet. Leave a little space between the cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are a golden brown.
- Allow the cookies to cool.
Notes
Adapted from West Rosa