Southern FATTY

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Cornflake Cookies

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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

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  1. 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.

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    • 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. 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

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  5. 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

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  7. 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!

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  9. 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 🙂

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  11. 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

  16. 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

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