Raspberry Cornflake Cookies (Cookie Contest, Part 2: Prime Time)

Yesterday we wrote about the Better Homes and Gardens State Cookie Contest we were invited to enter, how I developed a starting recipe and the results we got when we tested out that recipe.  That was on Sunday, and based on our taste test and my having given the cookies to coworkers for feedback, I had revised the recipe and was ready to make another batch.

While we were at work on Monday, our Better Homes and Gardens 15" x 10" Baking Sheet arrived in the mail.  We got this free for entering the contest, with the condition that we use it to make our contest entry and show it in one or more of the pictures we submit with the entry.  My first impression was that this was an awfully small baking sheet.  It has a lot smaller cooking area than most baking sheets.   However, in using it, we found some pretty neat things about it.  First off, the nonstick surface worked like a charm, as the cookies came off the sheet with no problem, and without having to use cooking spray or parchment paper.  Second, it heated very nicely and very evenly, resulting in our cookies being really nice and crisp and evenly golden-brown. 

Based on our own impressions and my coworkers' feedback, I made two changes to the recipe I started with.   Flavor-wise, the most significant change was to add some vanilla extract.  This added another dimension of flavor to the cookies, and it also balanced out the salt and baking soda flavors.  The other change didn't impact flavor much, but it did impact texture. By using butter-flavored shortening in place of the butter I used the first time around, the cookies spread less while cooking, making for a thicker cookie, and they were a lot less greasy.  These were both positive changes.

My experiments the first time around had helped me figure out how to bake these cookies for best result, so with those couple changes, I was ready to go.

The cookies turned out great!   They had a great initial crunch, due to the ample amount of cornflakes used in the dough and the big pieces of cornflake that resulted from carefully hand-stirring the flakes into the dough.  After the initial crunch, the cookies had a great chew, thanks to the coconut and oats.   They had a great buttery flavor with a rich vanilla undertone, and the raspberry jam and fresh raspberries added a delightfully contrasting tart-sweet flavor aspect.    These were definitely cookies I could proudly enter into a national contest.

As before, I took most of the cookies to share with my coworkers.  They loved them.  My hope is that some of our readers, and those who vote in the contest, will make some, and love them just as much.

Here's the recipe we entered!

Raspberry Cornflake Cookies

yield = 28 to 30 cookies

½       cup butter-flavored shortening

½       cup (packed) light brown sugar

½       cup granulated (white) sugar

1        large egg

1        teaspoon vanilla extract

½       teaspoon salt

1        cup all-purpose flour

½       teaspoon baking soda

½       teaspoon baking powder

½       cup (packed) sweetened, shredded coconut

½       cup rolled oats

1 ½    cups cornflakes

9        teaspoons seedless raspberry jam

1 ½    cup fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Set oven rack at middle position.

Use a stand or hand mixer to cream the shortening and sugars until smooth.  Incorporate egg, vanilla and salt.   Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and mix to incorporate.  Mix in coconut and oats with the mixer, then add cornflakes and stir in gently by hand.

Arrange heaping tablespoons of dough on the baking sheet.  Make a small indentation in the top of each ball of dough (a round ½ teaspoon measuring spoon works perfectly for this).  Add a heaping ¼ teaspoon of raspberry jam into the indentation of each cookie.

Put the baking sheet in the oven.  Bake 10 minutes, then remove the sheet from the oven.  Arrange 3 raspberries in and around the jam.  

Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake another 5 minutes or so or until the cookies are golden-brown and set.  Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. 

We would love for our readers to take part in the Better Homes and Gardens State Cookie Contest.  To see our entry and those of the other contestants, and to vote, go to the Better Homes and Gardens LiveBetter Facebook Page.  On the left side of the page, click on "State Cookie Contest."  From there, you can view the entries and vote.  Our entry is the Iowa Raspberry Cornflake Cookie.  You must "like" the BHG LiveBetter page to vote. 

Voting starts tomorrow (Thursday, June 30) at 9:00 eastern time and continues through July 27, with the winner announced July 28.   You can vote once each day.   We would like to win, of course, but we hope our readers will check out some of the other entries as well... and hopefully make some excellent cookies! 

Cookie Contest, Part 1: Experimenting

A few days ago, we got an email from a promoter for Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  They were planning a promotion for their line of cookware, which is available exclusively at Walmart.  We were invited to join BH&G's first-ever "State Cookie Contest," in which we'd be competing with food bloggers from all 50 states.  In exchange for agreeing to take part, we would be sent a free 15" by 10" cookie sheet from the Better Homes and Gardens Bakeware line.  The winner of the contest would get some nice gifts, including a full bakeware set and a second set to give away to one of our readers. 

That sounded pretty good to us, so we replied and said we were interested.  We got word back almost immediately that we'd been accepted.

That meant I had to come up with a cookie recipe that would represent Iowa in some manner, and which would also be good enough to have a chance of winning a national contest.

The "representing Iowa" idea came to me easily enough.   Iowa is known for, among other things, corn, and as it happens, cornflakes make an excellent cookie ingredient.  That said, cornflake cookies aren't a particularly new idea - they go back at least to the 1950s - and there are a lot of varieties out there.  So, I knew I'd have to go beyond that basic idea.

Eventually I decided I'd add a raspberry element to the cookies.   I figured that would add a whole different layer and type of flavor to the basic cookie, but I also went with raspberries for a more personal reason:  our own raspberry bushes are bearing a lot of fruit right now (between a half-pint and one pint per day).  I figured you couldn't get much more of an "Iowa" cookie than one made by an Iowan using ingredients grown in his own back yard.

With those decisions made and a little more thought, I made the following preliminary recipe:

1/2     cup unsalted butter
1/2     cup light brown sugar
1/2     cup granulated (white) sugar
1        large egg
1/2     teaspoon salt
1        cup all-purpose flour
1/2     teaspoon baking powder
1/2     teaspoon baking soda
1/2     cup rolled oats
1/2     cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1 1/2  cup cornflakes
          seedless raspberry jam
          fresh raspberries

I figured this would be a good starting point, from which I could start to experiment and fine-tune the recipe.

Using our Cuisinart stand mixer, I creamed together the butter and sugars, then added (in stages) the eggs and salt, then the flour, baking powder and baking soda, and then the oats and coconut.  I then stirred in the cornflakes by hand, so there would be big pieces of cornflake in the dough.

Next I scooped heaping tablespoons full of dough and arranged them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Using a round half-teaspoon measure, I made an indentation in the top of each ball of dough, flattening it some. 

I then placed a heaping quarter-teaspoon of raspberry jam into the indentation, then put the baking sheet into the oven and cooked for 14 minutes.

I decided to place a single raspberry into the jam-filled center of some of the baked cookies.   That didn't look so great.  As Juli put it, maybe that look would fly if I was making a cookie for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but since that wasn't the case, I knew I'd have to do something else. 

Juli suggested I skip the raspberries and just go with the jam, especially since when we sampled the first batch, we both noticed the flavor of the raspberries didn't blend well with the other aspects of the cookie, due to the raspberries not being cooked.  I knew I wanted to keep the raspberries, though, so I decided to add a few raspberries to each cookie before putting them into the oven.

Doing that resulted in the raspberries blending in well with the rest of the cookie, but the finished cookies didn't look good.  First off, as the cookies flattened and spread out, the raspberries did the same.  Second, the extra moisture from the raw raspberries resulted in the centers of the cookies looking less-done than the rest, not to mention sort of mushy.   Still, the flavor improvement told me I was on the right track.

With the next batch, I made the cookies as I had with the first batch, but removed them from the oven after about 8 minutes, when the cookies were partly cooked and had started to set.  I then arranged the raspberries in and around the jam centers, then tossed the cookie sheet back into the oven to finish cooking.

Those ones looked great - no spreading, no mushy appearance - and the flavor was great, too.  

There were some problems with these cookies, though.  First off, they spread out a lot more than I'd expected, and as a result, the jam ended up soaking through the cookies.  They also looked a bit greasy, especially on the bottoms of the cookies.  Plus, the flavors of the salt and baking soda were more noticeable than should be the case.  It was obvious I'd need to add some vanilla.

I took the cookies to work, to share them with my coworkers and to ask for some additional feedback.  Overall, they were quite well-received, and the feedback was consistent with what Juli and I had already determined.    With that feedback in mind, I was ready to make some adjustments to my recipe and make another batch of cookies.

(to be continued)