Corn Jelly Thumbprint Masa Cookies
I don’t focus on gluten-free recipes, but I do love when I come up with recipes that are naturally gluten-free (plus vegan, of course!) That is the case with these masa cookies, sweet and gently spiced, with a bit of bright jelly in the center of each made from- you guessed it- corn. It might be corny, but when I get a theme, I stick with it and this cookie is corn themed. My first experiments with corn cookies didn’t include a jam, and while they were sweet, tender and tasty, they were fairly similar to a corn biscuit. To up the sweetness, and really bring it into a dessert realm, we tried out thumbprint cookies. By making a really quick, simple jelly for the centers out of something that I pretty much always have on hand- frozen corn. These cookies do taste really corn-like, but in a really lovely dessert way. You’ll think of corn a little differently after making these!
Skip the Post, Click for a Print-Friendly Recipe!
Is Corn a Vegetable?
If you read a lot of what I write, you’ll know that this is a question I love to ask. If you really read what I write, this paragraph may seem familiar to you. I admit, I’m slightly altering and recycling it from an earlier post. It’s that between Christmas and New Year’s period, and I’m tired… So let’s go.
Rhubarb is a vegetable, but peppers are a fruit. Tomatoes are botanically a fruit, but legally (in the US) a vegetable, as is ketchup which is more or less tomato jelly. It can be fun to wrap your brain around. So here it goes. There are two ways I think about the plants we eat, from a botanical perspective and from a culinary one. Botanically fruits develop from the flower of the plant, and house the seeds. Vegetables on the other hand, are all other parts of the plant- the leaves (like Swiss chard), the stem (like asparagus), and roots (like ginger). Culinarily the definition is based more on flavor and uses. Fruits are sweet and tart, more often used in breakfasts and desserts, where vegetables are savory and milder in flavor.
By those definitions, corn is botanically a fruit and culinarily a vegetable. Usually. In this recipe I am actually using corn in a much fruitier way, plus corn has more sugar than many fruits. Either way, most of the time we treat corn as a vegetable, and most of us don’t go around making cookies and jelly with it. Although I would argue that we should!
But if you thought I was going to stop with corn cookies and corn on the cob you would be wrong, because we can go further than just fruits and vegetables. Corn can also be considered a grain. You’ll notice that this recipe uses masa harina, which is a flour made from dried and hardened corn. It is shelf-stable, as most grains are. There are a lot of ways we can process corn. Whole, popping corn meets the definition for a whole grain and a cereal crop, since they contain all three components (germ, endosperm, and bran). It can also be processed to make hominy (where the germ is removed) and even further to create cornmeal or masa, which often has the germ and bran removed. Then it can be baked and processed even further. Into, say, a cookie.
Did that answer your question? In some culinary worlds corn is a vegetable, at least when fresh and young. If you care about botany, really, it’s a fruit, and it’s sure sweet enough to be considered a culinary fruit too in my opinion. Dry it out a little, it’s a grain. Really, corn is whatever you want it to be, especially with a little processing. Then we can get into sweetener, oil, wallpaper paste, printing ink, even fireworks. Oh, and of course cookies.
Looking for Corn Recipes? Try one of these!
- Can you Eat Ornamental Corn? Homemade Hominy
- Roasted, Fiery Pineapple Corn Salad
- Kale and Mushroom Filled Sweet Potato Tamales
- Savory Scallion Cornbread Using Grits
- Baked Chile Relleno Cornbread Casserole
- Light and Brothy Vegan Corn Soup
- Tomato Masala Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Corn and Spinach
How to Make Masa Cookies with Corn Jelly
Cookies should never take too much effort, but I did add an extra step by insisting we make our own jelly. I did make that jelly in the quickest and easiest way I could think of, and to help make up for it I made the cookies themselves in a super simple, one-bowl method.
While most of the ingredients we used here will be available at your local supermarket, one that might not be is mesquite powder. Mesquite is a spice (or flour) that has a slightly nutty flavor, sweet but not overly sweet, and some cocoa and caramel notes. If you want to seek some out, I recommend looking online since it’s not all that common- you can buy it here if you like. If you don’t want to go through the effort, you can substitute cinnamon, although the flavor will be less delicate.
Start by mixing together the dry ingredients and spices, and then add the wet ingredients to the bowl. Because there is no gluten in the dough, you don’t have to worry about over mixing, which is a nice little plus. Once your batter is well mixed, shape the cookies in a balls, flatten to a disk, and give each a little thumbprint in the middle. After that it’s 15 minutes in the oven, and out they come. The masa cookies will be very soft when they first come out of the oven, so I recommend letting them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack and letting them cool down all the way.
In the meantime, make your jelly (you could also make this earlier if you prefer). To make the jelly, blend together frozen corn, sugar, agar powder, lemon juice and water until smooth. Put the mixture in a pot on the stove and cook for a few minutes to activate the agar powder which will cause the jelly to set. Make sure to stir and scrape the bottom with a spoon while cooking to avoid burning.
The last step is simply to put a little spoonful of jelly in the center of each cookie. The jelly will be sticky at first, but after a couple hours it will develop a bit of a skin on top that will make any transport and storing a little neater. And you’ve made it- corn cookies! Enjoy!
Corn Jelly Thumbprint Masa Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. flax meal
- 1 ½ cups masa harina
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. mesquite powder (sub ½ tsp. cinnamon)
- ½ tsp. turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ cup vegan butter, melted
- ½ cup oat milk (or other plant-based milk)
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ cup frozen (or fresh) corn kernels
- 1/4 cup granuated sugar
- 1 lemon, juiced
- ¼ tsp. agar powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set aside. Place the flax meal in a small bowl, and add 5 tbsp. of water. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes to thicken.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the masa, brown sugar, and spices. Whisk to combine. Add the flax mixture along with the melted vegan butter, oat milk, and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Scoop one heaping tablespoon of batter, and roll it into a ball in your hands. Flatten into a disk, and place on the baking sheet. Use your thumb to make a small indent into the center of the disk. Leave a couple inches between the cookies, and continue until the baking sheet is full. Bake for 15 minutes, and let cool for a couple minutes on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
- While the cookies are baking, you can make the jelly for the centers. Combine the frozen corn with ½ cup water, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and agar powder in a blender, and blend until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan on the stove, and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Let simmer for 4-5 minutes, and then allow to cool.
- Once both the cookies and jelly are cooled, scoop a generous ½ tsp. of jelly into the center of each cookie. Enjoy!
Click for a Print-Friendly Recipe!
Like these Masa Cookies? Pin it!
3 thoughts on “Corn Jelly Thumbprint Masa Cookies”