• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Southern FATTY

Loosen your bow tie, mint your julep, & stop in for a bite to eat.

  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Travel
    • Nashville
    • Beyond
  • Recipes
    • ALL RECIPES
    • Appetizers & Snacks
    • Beverages
    • Condiments / Dips / Sauces
    • Confections / Sweets
    • Mains / Entrées >>
      • Beef
      • Chicken
      • Pasta
      • Pork
      • Seafood
      • Vegetable
    • Sides / Appetizers
  • Photography
  • Subscribe

Cornflake Cookies

December 15, 2014 By Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com 36 Comments

Cornflake Cookies

 

Get out the butta and pecans. It’s that time of year, y’all! Bake, bake, bake. Without a doubt, this is when everyone pulls out their favorite sweet treats to make for their friends and family. These cookies are a favorite of mine, having grown up eating them like it was my job.

Cornflake Cookies — Buttery, shortbread-like cookies finished with pecans and crunchy cornflakes.

Note: I have TWO versions of this recipe. One with butter/margarine and shortening (this recipe, the original), and another with all butter.

 

Cornflake Cookies

 

I can remember traveling for houuuurs and hours from Kentucky to visit family in Georgia. It seemed like an eternity, really. My parents tried everything to keep my sister and I from going crazy (read: fighting). We had games, Walkmans (ya… you remember), rolls of quarters that would slowly diminish away for each poke or yell at each other. Nothing really worked, but I guess it helped to pass the time.

 

That entire 10+ hour journey seemed totally worth it when we would pull down the pine tree lined driveway and run into the house to find the cornflake cookies. These things are legendary. Seriously. They couldn’t be any easier, but just have this comforting, sweet taste.

 

Pecans for Cookies

 

Maybe it’s the unique addition of cornflakes. Maybe the rich pecans. It could be that the pecans were usually shelled by yours truly. That was the deal. When you visited, you shelled pecans. If you were old enough to eat ’em, you could prep ’em. We would sit and watch Jeopardy and the National news. I would get yelled at for eating more than I was putting into the bags. I’m pretty sure they had me working the pecan line before I was old enough to walk.

 

Making Cornflake Cookies

 

I never latched onto cornflakes like I did pecans. With that said, somehow the addition of butter and sugar and more butter really seems to make them delicious. Why isn’t that a cereal?! The crunch from this unusual mix-in provides a one-of-a-kind texture for the cookies.

 

Cornflake Cookies Ready to Bake

 

These are the cookies that I ask for every time I visit my parents. I would get boxes sent to my room in College. They’re just that good. They hit home with this comforting, crunchy, buttery deliciousness that you wouldn’t believe.

 

Cornflake Cookies

 

 

 

Cornflake Cookies

 

I’ve learned from a ton of failed ice cream topping cookies that these can be a bit finicky at times. Once you cream the butter and sugar, lightly stir in the flour and then it’s best to go old school and carefully mix in the rest by hand. The cornflakes need to stay mostly uncrushed and crunchy. This is hard to achieve with a mixer involved.

 

Cornflake Cookies

 

Ta daaa! I hope y’all enjoy these as much as I have for the past couple decades.

 

From my family to yours–  Happy Holidays!

 

What’s you favorite baked memory? Share below!

 

Cornflake Cookies (Original w shortening)
Yield: 3 dozen

Cornflake Cookies (Original w shortening)

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Unique, sweet cornflake cookies. Southern sweets at their best-- Buttery cookies with crunchy cornflakes and nutty pecans. Recipe from SouthernFATTY.com. This is the original recipe using butter and shortening.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup butter or margarine
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups cornflake cereal
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped

Instructions

    1. Pre-heat oven to 350˚F.
    2. Note: My Grandmother's original recipe uses margarine ("the cheapest kind you can get.", according to her). I often use butter instead. If you would like an ALL-BUTTER version visit THIS recipe.
    3. Cream butter or margarine, sugar, vanilla, and shortening just until well-combined.
    4. Sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar: Add to the butter mixture and combine just until mixed.
    5. By hand, mix in cornflakes and pecans very carefully. Don’t overmix!
    6. Bake by spoonful on lined baking sheet for ~ 12 minutes until just barely golden around bottoms.
    7. Cool and enjoy! Find more recipes on SouthernFatty.com.
© Phillip, SouthernFatty.com

Filed Under: Confections / Sweets Tagged With: butter, cereal, charity, cookies, cornflakes, crunchy, nuts, pecans, sugar, sweet

Previous Post: « Salted Caramel Peach Cobbler
Next Post: Spicy Potato Soft Tacos »

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. JOHN SUMMERS

    January 6, 2021 at 11:48 am

    I saw Paula Deen make these as well as rave and I read the comments on both here and on youtube. I like to make recipes as close to the original as possible. I couldn’t find margarine at Whole Foods, so I settled on Earth Balance, a vegetarian buttery spread alternative. The only shortening available was organic at $8! So I substituted it with, uh oh, lard. But I read it’s something that can be used as such. I made sure to cream the sugar and fats well and I used an ice cream scoop to pack the batter before I plopped it on the sheet. I then slightly flattened the top. Oddly, the cookies didn’t really spread out in baking. I was concerned about how dry it seemed and I almost added an egg but I didn’t. The result? I like a chewier consistency. Also, I’ll never do a cookie that isn’t butter based. I was missing that nice smooth aftertaste. I only made a 1/2 batch and part of that batch burned but that was my fault. I did sprinkle some of the crushed cookies on vanilla ice cream with a little chocolate sauce and that was to die for. I am going to sample another today and worse case, I’ll have topping for ice cream which is always a good thing.

    Attachment

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      January 6, 2021 at 11:51 am

      Thanks for the note! Give the all-butter version a try: https://www.southernfatty.com/cornflake-pecan-cookies/

      I think you may enjoy it. It is certainly not a chewy, soft cookie. It is crunch and a bit sandy, almost like a cross between a butter and pecan sandy, -ish.

      Hope you enjoy!
      -Phillip
      Have a photo to share? Tag us on social using @southernfatty / #southernfatty!

      Reply
      • JOHN SUMMERS

        January 6, 2021 at 5:57 pm

        After the batch sat overnight, I had a cookie today with tea and it was perfectly delicious. I guess it’s just such a different type of cookie, not something that I’m used to. Also, I gave 4 of them to my superintendent for his family.

        Reply
        • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

          January 7, 2021 at 12:51 pm

          Happy to hear that! It’s a great tea/coffee cookie, I think. Maybe I’ll try to do a chewy take on it sometime soon. Might be fun to try.

          -Phillip
          Have a photo to share? Tag us on social using @southernfatty / #southernfatty!

          Reply
  2. Hannah

    December 4, 2020 at 5:33 pm

    In recipe you say to cream together the butter, sugar and shortening but I don’t see shortening in ingredients, my email is [email protected]. Thank you for your help!! Cookies look delicious

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 4, 2020 at 5:51 pm

      Hi Hannah! I have two versions of this recipe. One with all butter and another with butter or margarine and shortening. The one with shortening is the original from my grandmother, but a lot of people requested all butter recipe as well. Either will work. Pick whichever one you prefer.

      Find the all-butter recipe right here (I updated the recipe instructions). The original recipe with shortening can be found here.

      Hope you enjoy them!
      -Phillip
      Have a photo to share? Tag us on social using @southernfatty / #southernfatty!

      Reply
  3. aya

    May 27, 2019 at 11:57 am

    please make the ingredients in gram, i already googled conversion but everywebsite has different conversion so i’m confused, i really wanna make this one, please again & thanks

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      June 6, 2019 at 9:47 am

      Most of my recipes now have both metric and imperial measurements. I’m working on getting them all updated.

      Reply
  4. Catherine Maxey

    March 8, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    I used cheap margarine, Blue Bonnet and store brand Crisco. Great results

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      March 9, 2019 at 5:16 pm

      That’s how I learned was best!

      Reply
  5. Catherine Maxey

    March 8, 2019 at 7:41 pm

    These have such a crispy texture. They are marvelous. I pulled them out of the oven when they didn’t look done but the bottoms were golden brown. I let cool on the cookie sheet. They crisp up and are fantastic

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      March 9, 2019 at 5:17 pm

      Wonderful! These cookies are such a big part of my family memories. I’m so glad you enjoyed them.

      Reply
  6. Eva Bowser

    November 14, 2018 at 10:34 pm

    Butter or margarine? Ingredient list states margarine; instructions says butter.

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      November 14, 2018 at 10:35 pm

      You can use either, really. The original recipe used margarine, but I realize most prefer to not use it now. I use butter when I make them (and it will spread less).

      Reply
  7. Julie | yoursjulie.com

    January 3, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    As one of the lucky recipients of these crispy, creative cookies, I can confirm that they taste just as good as they look. Thank you so much, Philip!

    Reply
    • Julie | yoursjulie.com

      January 3, 2015 at 3:17 pm

      Oops — that’s Phillip with two L’s. I was a bit too excited to post my praises! 🙂

      Reply
      • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

        January 5, 2015 at 9:56 am

        D’aww, thanks! I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for the kind note. Just got it and it made my day. Cheers–

        Reply
  8. Sally

    December 26, 2014 at 12:40 pm

    Flip, some of us know how many pecans you actually shelled

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 26, 2014 at 12:46 pm

      Hahaha! At least one or two 🙂

      Reply
  9. Meme Inge

    December 17, 2014 at 9:08 pm

    These were literally one of the top three best cookies I’ve ever eaten in my entire life! Seriously, SO good!!!! Thanks for sending them my way 🙂

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 17, 2014 at 9:19 pm

      D’aww! Thanks so much, Meme. They are for sure a favorite of mine for tons of reasons. Glad they made it there ok.

      Reply
  10. betheats

    December 17, 2014 at 7:01 am

    YES!!! I absolutely know that I would love these. My favorite cookie in the whole wide world (and one that I bake every year at Xmas since discovering a few years back) is a Crispy Chewy Coconut Cookie. It gets its “crispy” from – you guessed it- cornflakes! https://www.eat-drink-smile.com/2012/02/crispy-chewy-coconut-cookies.html

    Cornflakes. Who knew?!

    Definitely adding your cookies to my baking list for next week!

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 17, 2014 at 1:23 pm

      Love the addition of the coconut! I can’t even explain to people how addictive these really are.

      Reply
  11. Susannah Brinkley

    December 16, 2014 at 11:16 pm

    Phillip, these were so amazing. I seriously loved how unique they were! The crunch of the cornflakes was so wonderful and unexpected. I’m so glad you introduced these to me because I am totally going to have to make them! Thank you so much for sending me a batch of them!

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 16, 2014 at 11:38 pm

      D’aww, thanks! I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Happy Holidays!

      Reply
  12. Angela Roberts

    December 16, 2014 at 10:01 am

    Now this is a twist I never heard of. Rice crispies, move over, corn flakes are in town. Love that pic of you in the lab. You’re SMART!

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 16, 2014 at 3:17 pm

      D’aww, thanks! Soooo good– Gives it a great texture.

      Reply
  13. Tina Jui

    December 15, 2014 at 11:33 am

    Great cookie idea! It’s so fun to see all the recipes get posted today for the cookie swap. A lot of creativity going on in the baking department.

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 15, 2014 at 11:34 am

      Thanks! I’ve really enjoyed seeing everyone’s posts today. Cheers–

      Reply
  14. realfoodbydad

    December 15, 2014 at 10:59 am

    What an awesome idea, my boys would absolutely love these!

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 15, 2014 at 11:02 am

      Thanks, Matt! I never thought of it, but I bet kids would have fun throwing cornflakes into cookies. I mean… I do!

      Reply
  15. Nicholas Edwin Gulick

    December 15, 2014 at 10:26 am

    I love pecan shortbreads with a little texture! I must try this soon.

    Reply
    • Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

      December 15, 2014 at 11:01 am

      Shortbread is the best way I know how to describe the taste. They are a bit more airy and def textured. Lemme know how it goes!

      Reply
  16. Sharon

    December 4, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    Well this certainly is some interesting cookie sorcery going on. I did tweak your recipe a bit by throwing in some butterscoth morsels. Let me tell you, they took these cookies right over the top! Thanks for this recipe!!

    Reply
  17. Phillip @ SouthernFATTY.com

    December 4, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    It’s certainly unique! Something I grew up with in the south and have always loved. I’ve added butterscotch before and love it. Glad you enjoyed!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 2017 Neighborhood Cookie Party | The Meanest Momma says:
    December 19, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    […] [ 6 ] Kentucky Roasted Pecan Cornflake Cookies Brought by Khristie S. https://www.southernfatty.com/cornflake-cookies/ […]

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Footer

Southern FATTY is a Nashville, TN based food blog with everything delicious.

Loosen your bow tie, mint your julep & stop in for a bite to eat. Read More…

SUBSCRIBE

© 2016 Southern FATTY Media, LLC
 · by Phillip Fryman · Privacy / Terms & Conditions · Contact Us · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED



Previous Salted Caramel Peach Cobler Salted Caramel Peach Cobbler
Next Spicy Potato Soft Tacos Spicy Potato Soft Tacos