I don’t even know why I didn’t think about making these cookies the first time I ever used lucuma. It just makes so much sense, especially since corn is such a huge part of Peruvian cuisine, and lucuma, being a fruit that tastes exactly like caramel, would compliment that so perfectly! For these cookies, I made a take of my Japanese corn cookies, using lucuma powder(which is probably the most common way to procure lucuma flavored anything commercially) in the dough, and homemade blonde chocolate.

Blonde chocolate is made from slow-roasting white chocolate. The slow-roast allows the fats and sugars in the white chocolate to caramelize, in a similar process to dulce de leche. And with my track record of loving all things dulce de leche, salted caramel, cajeta, and blonde chocolate, it just felt like a natural compliment to the cookies. As it is not too sweet, but rather, buttery, blonde chocolate works really well with corn and lucuma, since it carries those caramel notes of the lucuma while being a direct compliment to the corn! I have received many, many compliments on these cookies, with several friends and coworkers citing it to be the absolute best cookie I have ever made, so I highly recommend trying to make these if you want to try something fun and new!

Makes 20 to 25 cookies

For the homemade blonde chocolate:
2 cups white chocolate

Spread on a lined sheet tray. Bake at 275 degrees F for 45 minutes, taking out the pan and stirring the chocolate every 5 minutes. The end product should be golden brown. Allow the chocolate to harden before using in the cookie dough.

For the cookies:
1/4 cup lucuma powder(Sold at Gelson’s, but also can be bought on Amazon)
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup Japanese corn powder(I used Kotoshima brand, which can be found at 99 Ranch)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup crushed blonde chocolate pieces

Whip the lucuma, butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder together first, for about 10 minutes, or until light in color and tripled in volume. Then whip in the eggs. Sift the corn powder and flour together to remove any lumps before folding that and the blonde chocolate pieces into the butter-egg mixture. Refrigerate your dough for at least 20 minutes. Then scoop out the cookies onto a lined sheet tray, keeping them at least 2 inches apart from one another. If you prefer the cookies to be fluffier, bake right away at 375 degrees F for 14 minutes. If you prefer them to be thinner and crispier, freeze for at least 1 hour, then bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes. In both cases, make sure to rotate the pan halfway through the baking process to guarantee even browning on every cookie.