Recipes from Ollie J -- Corny Cookies

One of the weirder things that ended up back at my house courtesy of the folks not moving all their food storage was a very vintage 5 lb. bag of Washington Stone Ground White Self-Rising Corn Meal that had to have been in the freezer for over 20 years. Even stranger? The fact that I already had a half-used 24 oz. bag of medium grind corn meal in my own pantry.

Guess which relative we both have in common who had a recipe in her box which could use up corn meal AND the odd bit of cream of tartar that we all have but never use? God bless my Southern granny who many many years ago, clipped a recipe, taped it to an index card, and then probably never made these.

Corny Cookies

1/2 cup shortening (used butter-flavored Crisco stick)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 cups Cattail Plain Corn Meal* (used Bob's Red Mill Organic medium grind)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon creme (cream) of tartar
1/2 teaspoon soda (baking)
1/2 teaspoon salt
I spiked this with extra cinnamon, a dash of cloves and a dash or two of nutmeg.)
pecan halves (if desired) (these were actually No. Carolina pecans from The Farm)

Mix together thoroughtly the shortening and brown sugar. Add egg and beat well. Sift dry ingredients together anad add to sugar mixture and sitr well. Mixture will be stiff. Cover and chill dough 30 minutes or longer. Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet two inches apart. Top with a pecan half if desired. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from baking sheet to cool.



This recipe made almost 2.5 dozen cookies. These could be considered "savory" biscuits, rather than the sweet cookies that Americans are used to. Since I used a medium grind corn meal, it's probably grittier than one would prefer. The extra flavoring in the shortening and the extra spices probably helped -- it's nutty (probably from the nutmeg and cloves). Edible, yes -- but I really don't know how these are going to go over to anyone but the most adventureseome foodies in the office. We'll see. Maybe next time I'll use corn flour or the Washington Corn Meal instead.

LATER: I didn't actually end up taking these into the office. I can report that many a pigeon, sparrow, and starling enjoyed squabbling over these on the Attic's windowsill.

While there is a flour made out of cattails (yes, like these from the New York Botanical Gardens), this refers to a defunct No. Carolinian/Southern brand of flour. Thanks to this author for doing the legwork.