Recipe: Glazed Cornmeal Cookies

When I first saw a recipe for cornmeal cookies in Everyday Food a couple of years ago, I was pretty skeptical. I’m not sure what it was that convinced me to give them a try, but I’m glad I did. The Boyfriend tried them right out of the oven, and not only did he say it was the best cookie I had made to date, but one of the best he’d had ever. I’ve made plenty of cookies since then, and these are still one of his favorites. And, according to the recipe, a serving of two cookies is only 176 calories! (The first time I made them they came out a little too big, but still, they’re fairly light and, with icing, can also satisfy a sweet tooth!)

I’m planning to make these again soon as a nice Valentine’s day treat, but I’ve used the same dough recipe to make other cutouts too. You can view the original recipe on Everyday Food, and, if you’re interested in my less-competent, real-life experience making them (as adapted from my former blog!), you can find my version below.

What You’ll Need:

2 cups  all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg 1

1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

1-2 drops food coloring (They suggest red or pink, but I say, go crazy. Who says a heart can’t be blue some of the time?)

What To Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. mix the flour, cornmeal, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the butter and 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar until creamy. (I also slap some flour on the beaters to keep the batter from sticking, since I have a pretty crappy electric mixer. I mainly bought it because it was a Black and Decker, and they also make power tools.)
2. After about 3 minutes, add the egg and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Then gradually add the flour mixture. (Also, at this stage, I try to use my hands as much as possible, since the batter should be pretty doughy at this point.
3. Place the rest of the granulated sugar in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Coat them with sugar, and then transfer to two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. use a glass  (or in my case, a beer bottle) to flatten, and then press the cookie cutter into each, being careful not to cut all the way through.
4. bake until cookies are golden at the edges, they say approximately ten minutes but mine sometimes take longer even though my oven gets pretty hot. (They also suggested to rotate the two baking sheets about halfway through, but really, who does that.)  Anyway, when done, let them cool. Un-iced, you can save them in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
5. now for the icing! whisk together confectioners’ sugar and 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1 3/4 teaspoons cold water. then add your food coloring of choice and spread the glaze in the heart with a small spoon or something with a flat edge. allow it to set for 15 minutes.

Apparently, in addition to being a key ingredient in tasty cookies and dishes like polenta, cornmeal can apparently be used to kill skin fungus! The more you know…

<3,

AM

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