Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies
How to Make Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies – This easy recipe makes soft, sweet, and perfectly crumbly cornmeal cookies topped with a decadent honey buttercream frosting. They taste similar to Crumbl cornbread cookies, but are made from scratch with simple and wholesome ingredients!
Why We Love This Honey Butter Cornbread Cookie Recipe
These fabulous Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies are inspired by the famous cookies from Crumbl cookie shop. This national chain has a dizzying lineup of classic and interesting cookies, and we just can’t get enough of the unique taste and texture of their cornmeal cookies!
If you aren’t familiar, the classic Crumbl version of this recipe is made with fine cornmeal flour, so it’s similar to a sugar cookie but with a sweet corn flavor. We like our cookies to have that summery taste but with a slightly more rustic texture than the store-bought cookie variety, therefore we are using medium ground cornmeal and all purpose flour. (However, feel free to use fine ground cornmeal and cake flour so the cookies classic “crumbl” texture.)
We have a delightfully simple Cornmeal Cookies recipe on the site. But these elevated cookies take things to the next level of decadence with a rich honey butter frosting… It’s basically your traditional buttercream frosting recipe, but with just the right amount of honey to make it pair perfectly with the cornbread flavors.
So, if you’ve been wanting to make these fun iconic cookies at home – or just want to try something new and exciting – this utterly irresistible copycat Crumble cornbread cookie recipe is just right for you!
Ingredients You Need
For the Cornbread Cookies –
- Sugars – both granulated white sugar and brown sugar
- Butter – unsalted, softened
- Shortening – your choice of vegetable or lard shortening
- Eggs – large, at room temperature
- Honey – use real honey, not flavored syrup
- Vanilla extract – to enhance the sweet cookie flavor
- Baking powder – for soft and fluffy cookies that still have a nice bit of chewiness
- Salt – sea salt or table salt, just a bit to balance the sweetness of the corn and honey
- Cornmeal – medium or fine ground (depending on whether you want more toothsome or smooth cookies)
- Flour – all-purpose or cake flour
For the Honey Butter Frosting –
- Powdered sugar – AKA confectioners’ sugar
- Butter – unsalted, softened
- Honey – again, we want real, pourable 100% pure honey
- Heavy cream – or whole milk
Find Ingredient Proportions and Detailed Instructions in the recipe card below!
How to Make the Best Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies
- Preheat the oven and line several baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, softened butter, and shortening in an electric stand mixer bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula. Then, turn the mixer on low and add the eggs, honey, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt.
- Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula again and mix in the cornmeal. Then add the flour, one cup at a time, until fully combined. The moment the cookie dough is smooth, turn off the mixer.
- Use a large 3-tablespoon cookie scoop to portion out equal-sized cookie dough balls on the baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the centers are puffed and the edges are lightly golden. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets. (You can also cool them on a cooling rack.)
- As the cookies cool, prepare the honey butter frosting. Add the frosting ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a paddle attachment. Turn the mixer on low, then once roughly combined, turn the mixer on high and beat the frosting until very smooth.
- Place the frosting in a piping bag with a large tip. Once the cookies are completely cooled, pipe frosting on top of each cookie. Alternatively, you can use a spatula and smear a dollop of honey buttercream on top of each cookie.
Pro Tip: Easily make your own piping bag with a plastic ziploc bag! Transfer all of the frosting into the bag, squeezing it all down into one of the two bag corners. Tighten the bag down around the frosting, just like you would a traditional piping bag. Use kitchen shears to snip off the tip of the bag, and voila, you have a homemade piping bag!
- Allow the cookies to rest at room temperature for 30+ minutes so the frosting sets a little. Then, place them in an airtight container and store them until ready to serve.
Get the Complete (Printable) Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies Recipe + Video Below. Enjoy!
Recipe Variations
- Flour – Use your choice of all-purpose flour or cake flour. You’ll get a more traditional chewy cookie with AP flour, while cornbread cookies made with cake flour are, well, more cake-y.
- Gluten-Free – Yellow cornmeal is already gluten-free. So simply use your favorite gluten free flour alternative for gluten-free Crumbl cornbread cookies.
- Shortening – You can use more softened butter in place of shortening if it’s not available. The texture will be slightly more chewy, but the cookies will still be delicious!
- Frosting – The honey butter frosting is very sweet, which we love to balance the more mildly sweet cornbread cookie. But you can swap it out with a slightly less sweet cream cheese frosting or homemade vanilla funfetti frosting. Or feel free to use canned frosting to top the cookies. No judgment here!
- Without Frosting – Yup, you can, of course, skip the frosting altogether and enjoy a sweet, tender, and lightly crisp cornbread cookie on its own.
- Extra Toppings – Add a drizzle of honey or a sprinkle of crushed cookie crumbs on top of the frosting for a fancy presentation.
- Servings – As-is, this honey butter cornbread cookie recipe makes 24 cookies. Easily halve or double the ingredients to make however many treats you need!
Frequently Asked Questions
Place the cookies in an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to 4 or 5 days.
These Crumbl-style cornbread cookies are delicate, so I don’t suggest keeping them in the fridge, or they’ll get too crumbly!
The honey butter frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for at least a week stored in a sealed container.
Yes, you can! But note that it’s best to freeze cookies without frosting.
Stack the cookies with a piece of parchment paper between the layers to keep them from sticking together. Then store them all together in a large plastic ziploc freezer bag. Freeze the cornbread cookies for up to 3 months, and thaw at room temp for 30 minutes or so before eating.
Looking for More Easy Cookie Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
- Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
- Easy Banana Pudding Cookies
- Key Lime Cookies
- Cool Whip Cookies (2-Ingredients)
- Orange Sugar Cookies with Orange Frosting
- Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
- Chocolate Coconut Cookies
- Italian Wedding Cookies
- Cream Cheese Cookies
- Russian Tea Cakes (Snowball Cookies)
Honey Butter Cornbread Cookies Recipe
Video
Ingredients
For the Cornbread Cookies –
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cornmeal medium or fine ground
- 3 cups all-purpose flour or cake flour
For the Honey Butter Frosting –
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Set out several baking sheets and line them with parchment paper.
- Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, softened butter, and shortening in an electric stand mixer bowl. Beat the fats and sugars together on high until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. Then turn the mixer on low and add the eggs, honey, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt.
- Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula again and mix in the cornmeal. Then add the flour, one cup at a time, until fully combined. The moment the cookie dough is smooth, turn off the mixer.
- Use a large 3-tablespoon cookie scoop to portion out equal dough mounds. Place the cookie dough mounds 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the centers are puffed and the edges are lightly golden. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets.
- As the cookies cool, prepare the frosting. Using a clean mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar, butter, honey, and cream. Turn the mixer on low, then once roughly combined, turn the mixer on high and beat the frosting until very smooth.
- Place the frosting in a piping bag with a large tip. Once the cookies are completely cooled, pipe frosting on top of each cookie. Alternatively, you can use a spatula and smear frosting on top of each cookie.
- Allow the cookies to rest for 30+ minutes so the frosting sets a little. Then place in an airtight container and store until ready to serve.