Simple Cornmeal Cookies

More not-chocolate from Alice Medrich...

Cookie number 2 from the musician's gift bags (see previous post) was a simple cornmeal cookie. Sounds like nothing special, but it definitely held its own in the gift bags. These are convenience cookies, as you can wrap them in wax paper to freeze them for up to 3 months, then slice off dough when you feel like baking a few for a home made dessert. They're very crumbly, at least mine were, so the sticking them in the freezer step is good to make them hold together before slicing them. Even if they do crumble, they'll taste just as good.

Flour
Yellow Cornmeal (Organic, because I admit, cornmeal can taste like nothing if you let it)
Salt
Unsalted butter (at room temperature)
Sugar
Egg Yolk
Yogurt (Non-fat actually works best as it's more liquidy, so will hold the batter together)
Vanilla extract

These are so fast to put together. Just separate the egg yolk in advance, and into a separate bowl, though honestly it doesn't matter if a little egg white gets in. You could even use the whole egg. Actually, that would hold the cookies together better.

First, whisk together the flour, cornmeal and salt.

Then cream the butter (no time duration given on this, but I'd say until it lightens up in colour).

Add the sugar and beat on high for 1 minute. Alice says do this until the dough forms a mass. Mine didn't so much form a mass...Cookies are more forgiving than mousse, though, I think.

Add the egg yolk, yogurt and vanilla, beat, and turn the speed to low to add the flour mixture.

Now knead the dough for a minute. Have you ever kneaded cookie dough? Maybe that's why mine crumbled. My kneading technique was lacklustre? By now there was nothing I could do but wrap the cookies in a 14" piece of wax paper and form it into a 9" cylinder (like a long roll of Pillsbury frozen cookie dough...but very, very much not Pillsbury...maybe if Pillsbury was Italian...no, not even then. Sorry to all Italian nonnas).

Twist the ends of the wax cylinders to seal and chill at least an hour in the freezer. It can hang out in the fridge for up to 3 days, but it's just as easy to slice after freezing, and it keeps its freshness better, so just stick it in the freezer.

Slice the cookies you want into 1/8"-1/4" (or larger) slices (the same size or slightly thicker than a loonie) and place on baking sheets prepared with foil or butter. Like I said, if they crumble, just form them into shapes that you're okay with eating. Mounds are fine if you're not pretentious about your cookie shapes. They won't spread so you can stick them close together. AND since they don't spread, the coin-shaped slices end up as just slices and look kind of rigid, so even forming them intentionally into little mounds makes them look more natural and less frozen.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. If you put both cookie sheets in the oven at once, rotate them halfway through the cooking, from front to back and top to bottom rack if you use two.

These have a nice chewy texture, finer than an oatmeal cookie, but with more to savour than a sugar cookie. It's a really nice after-dinner cookie, or afternoon snack. "As opposed to other cookies how?", you ask? Well you feel like you're getting your money's worth of cookie. These don't seem to evaporate into thin air in your mouth, so they're a much more satisfying "petite sweet". Besides, if my Ukrainian-Canadian prairies background taught me nothing else, it's how to get the most out of just a little.

A final note, apparently you can freeze these once they've been baked, but that negates the whole concept of freshly baked cookies from the freezer. It would take just as long to let the cookies defrost when you want one that you've already made, as it would to slice the frozen dough and stick it in the oven (or toaster oven) to bake fresh. Heaven forbid you take a pre-baked cookie and stick it in the microwave. Perish the thought...