Corn cookies have been an ongoing love affair for me circa 2016, when I first made them after watching Christina Tosi make them on Mind of a Chef. They have really evolved over the years, and this is basically corn cookie version 8 or so. What makes these corn cookies unique is my usage of gjetost cheese – gjetost is a Norwegian caramel cheese, made by slowing heating up goat milk until it reaches a dulce de leche or cajeta-like state, but without the additional sugar. If you want to make a quick cajeta or dulce de leche, you can literally just caramelize sugar, add in grated gjetost, and a little bit of milk or cream, and you will end up with something convincingly similar. That is to say, gjetost cheese is the perfect ingredient to pair with anything that tastes better with caramel, like let’s say, corn? With this recipe, I went with my corn cookie dough, using brown butter, and gjetost cheese, to give the final cookie this warming, comforting flavor. For the corn powder I used in my dough, it was the Kotoshima brand Japanese corn powder. I found it at my local 99 Ranch, but if you do not have one of those nearby where you live, I would recommend checking out a Chinese grocery store(ironically my Japanese grocery stores don’t carry this for some reason), and if all else fails, finely grinding cornmeal down into a powder can also work. I also finished the cookies with some grated gjetost, just to give them a nice caramelized exterior and more of that nutty, delicious gjetost flavor!

Makes 16-24 cookies:
1 stick unsalted butter, browned
1 egg
1 cup dark brown sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Kotoshima brand Japanese corn powder
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
.5oz grated gjetost cheese, plus more to finish

In a pot, whisk the brown butter, egg, sugar, salt, and vanilla until combined. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour, just so that it can solidify, and scoop out 2 tbsp-sized balls. Space these balls about 2-3 inches apart from each other on a lined sheet tray. Bake at 375 degrees F for 13 minutes. Grate on top of each cookie more gjetost cheese, and re-baking the cookies for another 2 minutes.