A neighbor I didn’t even know loaned me some community cookbooks because she had heard I was desperately looking for recipes so I could finish up the grant project. I had never heard of butter crunch cookies before but love cornflakes in desserts so as soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had found my dessert.
When I looked up butter crunch cookies online to see if there was a fun story behind them, I didn’t find much. Some “butter crunch” recipes didn’t have cornflakes at all but had pecans. I don’t even think pecans are very crunchy so to me that sounded like a butter pecan cookie, not butter crunch.
It got me thinking about how I could make the original recipe, which was fine but lacking some oomph, into what I would think is worthy of the butter crunch name.
I changed the sugar to brown sugar for a richer, caramel flavor, I added toffee bits which added a buttery flavor and crunch and then instead of crushing the cornflakes before adding them to the bowl, I let the mixer do the work. The cornflakes got just as crunched and I didn’t have to spend time mashing cereal.
The result was a buttery, actually crunchy, thin, toasty-sweet cookie.
Butter Crunch Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cup flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 5 cups cornflakes
- ⅔ cup toffee bits
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line 4 cookie sheets with parchment. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light.
- Beat in the eggs. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until it looks like a batter, just a couple minutes.
- While the mixer is going, slowly stream in the cornflakes. Mix until they are crushed and well-incorporated. Stir in the toffee bits.
- Drop the batter by the tablespoonful onto the lined baking sheets 2-3 inches apart.
- Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown and “set” looking—they should not look wet or gooey.
- Remove the cookies, still on the parchment, to a wire rack and cool completely before serving—toffee gets quite molten and needs to re-solidify before it is really safe to eat.
Notes
A version of this post appeared in Aspics, Chicken Salad, and Ice Cold Celery: Finding Community through Maryland Recipes