Cornflakes Butter Cookies with Dried Cranberries

I'm really on a roll here. Fresh from my first cookie, now I am ready for my next one! When I saw Mich's Corn Flakes Cookies, I thought they looked golden and very beautiful. On my first attempt, I found the cookies really lovely, they were crispy but a little bit gritty. I guess I must have over baked them and I tried baking the second batch at 15 instead of 20 minutes. It was crisp on the outside but the inside was still raw. I attribute all this to my inexperience.

Cookie dough and crushed cornflakes.

And then I decided to do something evil. I had the audacity to increase the amount of butter in my next attempt. The original recipe has 175g flour to 100g butter which I believe is the healthy version. I upped the butter to 200g and it was vavavoom!! And images of Institut Jantung Negara (National Heart Institute) flashed before my eyes. Me in the ICU with oxygen mask and hooked to machines with the ECG monitor going toot! toot! toot! All due to one extra block of butter.

I imagined the cookie dough as a small child rolling in the sand.

My partner's daughter and her colleagues loved the cookies so much that she asked me if I could bake and sell the cookies to them. Huh? Me sell cookies? Oh no, no, no. Balancing a balance sheet and computing capital allowances is a much easier way to earn a living. It is very labor intensive this cookie business and besides, her father would freak out if I started selling cookies :D

Wheee.....all covered in sand, err...cornflakes.

And armed with my recently acquired experience in cookie making, I tweaked the recipe to include dried cranberries. I must really thank all my fellow bloggers for the inspiration and motivation I got from looking at all your fabulous cookies. 

I decided to go dainty and it was very tiring.

I admit it is very tiring baking cookies. Not like a cake where you can dump the batter in a tin or at the most scoop the batter into cupcake liners. I made two batches of these cookies yesterday, spending practically the whole afternoon on my feet. These cookies are really good and so popular that I made extra for my family and as giveaways. Once a year I'm prepared to slave in the kitchen :)

Just out of the oven.

In the process of making these cookies I also discovered that they are pretty good coated with Nestum cereal. I ran out of cornflakes when it came to the last two cookies in my first batch. Luckily, I had a tin of Nestum which was hibernating in the cupboard. Yup, I had bought that much earlier with the good intention of making Nestum cookies. Hah! Hah! That project never got off the ground. My second batch of cookies were baked using raisins in place of cranberries and Nestum cereal in place of cornflakes.

Second batch with raisins and Nestum.

The recipe I am sharing today has been adapted from Piece of Cake and originally from Molly Tay of Munch Ministry. The butter and sugar can be creamed by hand like what Mich did but I prefer to use my handmixer. After the egg and vanilla extract has been mixed, I folded the rest of the ingredients using a spatula.

Cornflakes Butter Cookies with Cranberries

Recipe source : Adapted from Piece of Cake and originally from Munch Ministry

Ingredients :

- 250g unsalted butter

- 100g caster sugar

- 1 egg

- 250g self raising flour

- 125g dried cranberries or raisins

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- Cornflakes for coating, crushed (I used slightly more than 2 cups or can use Nestum cereal)

Method :

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix well.

3. Fold in dried cranberries.

4. Add flour and mix until mixture forms a dough.

5. Using 2 teaspoons, shape the dough into a little ball.

6. Drop the dough into the crushed cornflakes and coat it evenly.

7. Use your hand to shape it into ball before placing the dough on a lined baking tray.

8. Bake at 160C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Remove cookies from baking tray to cool on wire rack.

Note : My cookies were done at 18 minutes. I rotated my baking tray at halftime to get even browning.

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover.