I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I ate a bowl of corn flakes. Who ever pledged their morning cereal love to boring old corn flakes? I mean, perhaps you only ate them when they were the most attractive item on a Super 8’s continental breakfast spread. Because clearly they were more exciting than the mini box of Raisin Bran. Despite trying to argue that I’ve never poured myself a bowl, I know exactly what they taste like. You never come right out and say, “corn” because it seems too obvious, but… that’s exactly what they taste like. So, when Christina Tosi of the Momofuku clan turned the world upside down with her cereal milk soft-serve ice cream, we all went weak at the knees for the nostalgia of that boring bowl of corn flakes. Every time I have it, I can’t help but smile. Again, despite not ever remembering favouring that box with the rooster, it reminds me of Saturday mornings watching the Smurfs.

Because we don’t all have easy access to a Milk Bar for the soft serve, Tosi’s corn cookies are the perfect substitute for when you want to be reminded of how good corn can taste when it’s not on the cob and liberally sweetened. And forget cornbread. Yes, it’s delicious and can burst with sunshine-y corn flavour, but these corn cookies are on a whole different level: crisp edges, chewy middles, and that crave-inducing mix of salty and sweet. Corn’s easy lean to savoury means they could be dipped in sriracha (seriously) as easily as milk. Tosi even makes grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with them!

Getting the ingredients is not easy, and they’ll be a workout to make if you don’t have a stand mixer, but believe me when I tell you that the effort will be worth it. And if it’s not, I’ll walk down the block to my local Milk Bar and pick one up for you. Just don’t let Azrael steal it away!

Corn Cookies

• You can find the recipe here.
• Living in New York, I can easily go to a Momofuku Milk Bar location and buy the required corn powder that they so nicely prepare. You might have to take the extra step of going online to order freeze-dried corn and then turning it into a powder in your food processor.
• In addition to the corn powder, you also have to use corn flour. And note that corn flour is different than cornmeal. Bob’s Red Mill makes some.
• As per the recipe, do beat the sugar, butter, and egg for 7-8 minutes as directed. Tosi states in the cookbook that this is an important step.
• Get used to refrigerating your dough for flavour and texture. You should be doing it for all your cookies. For at least 24 hours. (Although the nerds over at America’s Test Kitchen think you only need 10 minutes.) I like resting the dough because it makes the task of baking less onerous. One day, I mix and clean all the bowls. The next day, I bake.
• I’m now in the serious habit of freezing a portion of the dough from a cookie recipe to save and bake for later. So, instead of putting all my little scooped doughs in the fridge, I put many of them on a parchment paper-lined plate in the freezer. After about 30 minutes, they’re hard. Pop them in a freezer bag, and you’re good to go for small-batch baking. Friend coming over for coffee? In 10 minutes, you can serve freshly baked cookies. Living alone, I find this especially handy. Instead of always taking baking to work the next day, I can slowly make my way through a haul myself!