Cut-Out Corn Cookies

Rolled out corn cookies on a cookie sheet, all decorated as bears.

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These roll out brown butter corn cookies are so easy to make and full of flavor! They have a great texture from the cornmeal, bold flavor from the sweet corn powder, and a hint of nuttiness from the brown butter. You can cut out any shape you like or follow along my recipe for bear cookies.

Prep Time20

Cook Time9

Freeze time15

Total Time44

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: corn cookies

Calories: 204kcal

Author: Bianca Fernandez

Equipment

Kitchen scale/measuring cups
Measuring spoons
1 Rolling Pin
1 Small light-colored saucepan for browning butter
1 silicone spatula
1 large mixing bowl for mixing dough
Parchment Paper
2 Cookie sheets
cookie cutters I used bear cookie cutters

Ingredients

Dry ingredients:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornmeal
¼ cup sweet corn powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt

Wet ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar packed; light or dark
3 tablespoons malted milk powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or paste
1 egg room temperature

Decorations:

3 tablespoons white chocolate chips
½ tablespoon chocolate chips milk or dark
oil-based pink/red food coloring

US Customary - Metric

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

Brown the butter:

(Feel free to check out my more in-depth post about brown butter)
In a light-colored pan over medium heat, add ½ cup unsalted butter. Continuously stir with a silicone spatula.
After the butter melts, it will begin to foam. Then, the foaming will subside and brown specks will start to form at the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring. The color change will be fairly quick, so keep an eye on the butter. Remove the pan from heat once you smell a nutty aroma and the butter becomes golden brown.
Transfer to a heat-safe bowl and let cool until room temperature, about 10-15 minutes.

Make the cookie dough:

In a large bowl, use silicone spatula to mix the cooled, melted brown butter with ⅓ cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup brown sugar until combined.
Stir in 3 tablespoons malted milk powder, 1 tablespoon vanilla, and 1 egg until smooth.
Add in all of the dry ingredients: 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¼ cup cornmeal, ¼ cup sweet corn powder, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon fine sea salt. Mix until no dry spots remain. The dough will be thick.

Roll out cookie dough:

Now, you will make a "parchment stack". The bottom layer will be a large piece of parchment paper, the cookie dough in the middle, then parchment paper on top. This will make rolling out the dough much easier + mess free.
Lay large piece of parchment paper down on work surface. Plop on all of the cookie dough, then lay another piece of parchment on top of it.
Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a large rectangle, until dough reaches desired thickness. I rolled my dough out to about ¼-inch thick.
Pop the parchment stack into the freezer for 15-20 minutes. This will make the dough easier to work with, especially if you are working in a warm kitchen!
Towards the end of the freezing time, preheat oven to 350°F/177°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
This step will help loosen the shortbread from the parchment paper layers. So when you cut out dough pieces, the dough doesn't stick to the paper and is easier to transfer to your lined baking tray.
Peel off top parchment paper, then lightly stick it back on. Flip the entire parchment-shortbread-parchment stack over so you can peel off the bottom parchment paper.
Use bear cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes. If dough is getting too soft, pop it back in freezer for a few minutes.
Knead together any dough scraps, roll out, and cut out more bear cookies.

Bake cookies:

Transfer cookies to baking sheets, about 2-3 inches apart. The cookies will not spread much while baking.
Bake for 11-13 minutes. Cookies should have slightly firm edges and look set (no wet/underbaked spots in dough). Let cool on pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.

Decorate cookies:

Note: You can a piping bag, toothpick, or cookie scribe to add on the details. I used piping bags.
Add 3 tablespoons white chocolate chips to small microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until fully melted.
Leave about a tablespoon of melted white chocolate and transfer the rest to a piping bag. Use this for the snouts and ears.
To the remaining white chocolate, add a drop of oil-based pink/red food coloring. Transfer to piping bag and use this for the blush.
If you don't have oil-based food coloring, then the chocolate will seize/become lumpy. To counter this, stir in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time, until it becomes smooth again.
Melt ½ tablespoon chocolate chips in another bowl, transfer to piping bag, and use this to draw on the eyes and nose.
Enjoy!

Video

Notes

Baking tip:

Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.

Storage instructions:

If you’d like to make these roll-out corn cookies ahead of time, you can freeze raw cut-out cookie dough pieces for up to 3 months. Bake as usual, just add 2-3 minutes to the baking time.

Room temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Freezing instructions: Store cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Allow frozen cookies to thaw at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

Nutrition