Italian Cornmeal Cookies
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These northern Italian-inspired cookies taste like little discs of toasted cornbread.
These simple cookies are inspired by zaletti, the northern Italian cornmeal cookies typically flavored with vanilla, lemon zest, and grappa-soaked raisins. Warm out of the oven, they taste like little discs of toasted cornbread. Since the cookies aren’t too sweet, they make a wonderful breakfast with a cup of coffee or tea.
What you’ll need to make Italian Cornmeal Cookies
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
Whisk well and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy, about one minute.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Beat in the vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients.
Beat on low speed until just combined. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool enough to handle, about one hour.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the balls slightly with the palm of your hand.
Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are pale on top and lightly golden on the bottom. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Serve with coffee or tea and enjoy!
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Italian Cornmeal Cookies
These northern Italian-inspired cookies taste like little discs of toasted cornbread.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off with knife
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 11 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy, about one minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool enough to handle, about one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and set two oven racks in the centermost positions. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the balls slightly with the palm of your hand, then bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are pale on top and lightly golden on the bottom. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The Cookie Dough can be Frozen for up to 3 Months: Roll the dough into balls, let set on a baking sheet in the freezer, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To Freeze After Baking: Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 75
- Fat: 4 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 10 g
- Sugar: 3 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Sodium: 42 mg
- Cholesterol: 18 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Comments
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These turned out great! They tasted just like ones I bought at an Italian bakery.
Has anyone added roughly chopped dark chocolate to these? Do you think it would work?
Modification of earlier review. These cookies are scrumdumptious made with polenta and a little less sugar.
I do but not everyone will know what 1-1/2 Tbsp equates to. Also, why put instructions to preheat oven as the first step when the dough needs to chill before you can handle it? Just my thoughts
Putting “preheat the oven to” the baking temperature is standard in recipes. I understand and agree with your comment, but I don’t think I have ever seen a recipe that doesn’t do that. I find that most cookie doughs bake better after refrigeration, so it is silly, but I have more cookbooks than most libraries and a good many of them are baking from all over the world. It just seems to be a standard practice regardless of where the author is from or who publishes the book. If you look at this recipe where the steps and pictures are, you will see that she writes, “Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool enough to handle, about one hour.” Then there is a picture and in the next step it says, “Preheat the oven…”. I will add that many ovens take longer to reach the actual temperature than when they indicate they are at the temp.
These were delicious. I added dried cranberries to half of the batch. Yum! I served the plain ones with chili when they were hot out of the oven. Great recipe!
These cookies are delightfully different. Only got 30 cookies, made balls and flattened them with an upside down shot glass dipped in cornmeal. I will make smaller balls next time for thinner cookies as these stuck a bit in the throat. Husband liked them as is. Perhaps anise flavoring next time. Or seeds.
These cookies satisfy like only a corn muffin satisfies a cornbread hound like me … Good To Go in the car, minus the crumbly mess of paper muffin cups ! Thank You for this great recipe.
These are not your ordinary cookie. I really think they are good, not too sweet. I liked the cornmeal flavor.
I made these for the guys at work. They disappeared so fast! All recipies I have made have worked great! Thanks!
I will try this recipe tomorrow morning. I do have a question, can I substitute butter with butter flavored crisco? I heard it’s best for baking!
Hi Christina, I’d stick with the real butter on this one…the flavor will be better.
Okay will do! Thanks. 🙂