Who loves Trader Joes? It always has the BEST products!
Just like the grocery store favorite this copycat Trader Joes corn cookie tastes like a sugar cookie with a soft hint of corn in every bite. And the smell from your oven is absolutely amazing! It smells just like a fresh batch of sweet cornbread and fresh sugar cookies are baking!
what are trader joes corn cookies?
Trader Joes is a natural grocery store that periodically sells some fun mixes! The Trader Joes Corn Cookie Mix is one that you can periodically find on shelves. The mix has gluten and I am making sure that the copycat recipe has food allergy substitutions because everybody should enjoy cookies. Plural.
what should i serve with these cookies?
How about some Trader Joe's delicious Organic Jalapeno Limeade ?
Or a nice cold glass of Trader Joe's Watermelon Cucumber Cooler ?
let's talk about the cookies. what kind of taste can i expect?
Here's the verdict from our taste testers:
Child 1: Sugar cookie
Child 2: Snickerdoodle. ?????
Child 3: Sugar Cookie. Where's the frosting and sprinkles Mom?
Me: Sugar cookie with a nice hint of corn.
So pretty much a sugar cookie. But not a sugar cookie.
your recipe calls for corn meal and corn flour. what is the difference?
Looking at the back of the Trader Joe's mix it calls for both corn flour and corn meal. When I opened the bag of both and looked inside I really had a hard time telling the difference. So I grabbed a scoop of each and put them on a plate.
It was interesting to see that even though they look very similar the corn meal spread and didn't retain it's shape as well as the corn flour. The corn flour also appeared to have a thicker consistency once out of the bag.
Corn Meal: Coarsely ground, has a more gritty texture
Corn Flour: Finely ground, has a more smooth texture
LOVING THIS RECIPE? TRY SOME OF OUR OTHER COPYCAT RECIPES!
why do you vary the amount of corn flour you use in the recipe?
Yes, if you look closely I did vary the amount of corn flour that I used in the recipe. This difference was really needed for me when I cooked with the gluten free flour. The recipe worked well with Gluten Free Cup4Cup with the less amount listed, but I used Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free and needed the higher amount of corn flour in order to get the cookies to spread and crack the way I wanted.
If you are using regular all purpose flour you can also add the higher amount of corn flour to give your cookies a more puffy appearance instead of the cracked top look.
PS Look at that texture and corn in each cookie!
what is softened butter?
This is super important but when it comes to the butter, you want the butter to be softened to room temperature. You do not want the butter to be runny at all or too soft. This picture from Mel's Kitchen Cafe illustrates perfectly on what you want your butter to look like when softened. (Hint, the cool room temp butter is the look you are going for! Hint 2: This is a GREAT illustration for showing your kids when they are learning to cook. I've had MANY cookies that look like the ones on the far right. Or worse).
i would love to give this as a gift for a gluten free friend. how can i do that?
Yes! Just place the dry ingredients into a mason jar and print out the instructions below to include with your gift.
Copycat Trader Joes Corn Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks) can substitute dairy free butter
- 1 whole egg can substitute with egg replacer
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour can substitute gluten free flour (add ½ teaspoon xantham gum if mix does not include it)
- ½ cup corn meal
- ¼-1/2 cup corn flour (use ¼ cup if using all purpose flour, use ½ cup if using gluten free flour blend)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes on medium speed until butter is light and fluffy. Turn off mixer, scrape bowl and put mixer on low speed. Add the egg and remaining ingredients, continuing to stir until well blended.
- Drop the dough by tablespoons onto your cookie sheet, leaving several inches of space between cookies.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet before moving cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Notes
YOUR RECIPE CALLS FOR CORN FLOUR AND CORN MEAL. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORN FLOUR AND CORN MEAL?
Rachael
Oh, my goodness! These look SO good! I recently tried making a corn cookie that went alright, but it was a little denser than expected. I also love your recipe card! So sweet. Thanks for sharing!
creativejewishmom/sara
Looks great and nice to "meet" you on craft schooling Sunday!
Jeremy
Maybe do a test cookie with your dough, instead of making 3 sheets of 1 giant cookie after the tablespoons dropped several inches from each other melts into a single pool as it bakes 😕
burntapple
Hi Jeremy can you clarify what you are talking about? Thanks! Traci
Shelley Whittaker
These sound yummy - thanks for sharing the recipe! #KCACOLS
Jade
These look so tasty, love the kids descriptions too. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time
Clare M
These look tasty and I have a gluten free friend who would appreciate them. #KCACOLS
T.U
#KCACOLS oooh, i love Traders Joe and everything around it. These cookies are so amazing.
Helen Copson
These look delicious. But now I need to know what a Snickerdoodle is?? Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time"
Dana, A mamanista life
I always have corn flour and corn meal in the cupboard but i've never used them for baking cookies. These look delish x x
burntapple
I know! Until I saw them at Trader Joes I would've never known corn cookies were a thing! Enjoy!!
Kris
Delish!!!! Made using monk sugar and turned out fabulous!
burntapple
Aw, so glad to hear that!
Karen
can you sub for corn flour if usingGF flour and with what? Thanks
burntapple
unforunately Karen you will need to use corn flour. It is gluten free. It's just a finer flour. You'll need that to have a rich corn taste to the cookie. Hope that helps!
Lindsay N
Hi! I've tried to make these twice now and both times the cookies flatten out paper thin. Any suggestions on what is happening? Thank you!
burntapple
It's hard to know. Are you using gluten free flour or regular all purpose flour? Maybe try adding a tablespoon or two more of flour to the batter and then baking one cookie to see if the cookie continues to come out paper thin. They should come out thin, but probably not paper thin. If it's gluten free flour it can depend on the brand you are using. Sometimes it could also be the baking powder being older too. Thanks for reaching out!