masa harina chocolate chunk cookies
*This recipe was originally published October 2022 to my now defunct Patreon.
I spent a lot of my time at my pop up over the weekend at a Día de Muertos Festival answering questions about masa. My pop up menu included a masa layer cake made with Masienda’s Heirloom Red Corn Masa, and these masa piloncillo chocolate chunk cookies that I, frankly, am obsessed with. The questions surprised me some, considering our surrounding that day, the air thick with the scent of fresh corn tortillas hitting hot comals in the booths on either side of me, but of course people may not know! And I am happy to educate. Whenever someone asked, “What is masa?” I replied, “Have you ever eaten a corn tortilla?”
What masa is not, is interchangeable with corn flour or cornmeal. Although similar, masa is the name for corn kernels that get soaked in a lime solution to remove the outer hull during a process called nixtamalization. Corn flour is made from untreated finely ground dried corn. Cornmeal is another form of ground corn, but is typically ground far less than masa or corn flour, ranging in texture from fine to coarse. Reserve corn flour and cornmeal for things like the breading when frying foods, and in all manner of batters like cornbread and even crepes!
Masa harina has a distinct corn flavor to it — different from that with corn flour and cornmeal — one that I obviously love using in sweets. Sweet tamales (link to the iconic Mely Martinez’s food blog) are a beautiful example of how that distinct corn flavor works with all kinds of sweet fillings. King Arthur Baking has various recipes featuring their Organic Masa Harina, including sweet corn cookies and shortbread. Masienda just wrapped up their Sweets Week with recipes ranging from conchas (by me!) to brownies and thumbprint cookies.
Since piloncillo, a raw pure cane sugar/sweetener (known as jaggery in India and panela in Central and South America) is likely not a pantry staple for you, swap it out for dark brown sugar. I prefer browning the butter for chocolate chunk (never chips — sorry if that is snobbish but I just don’t use them!) cookies because otherwise I personally find cc cookies to be kind of lacking. The brown butter has the added benefit of pairing with the piloncillo or brown sugar beautifullyyyy; the masa adds depth of flavor that really makes these cookies anything but regular. For the bakery and the pop up, I used a portion of whole wheat pastry flour in tandem with the AP flour and masa harina, but I’m omitting it here because it would be absurd to ask people to get a specialty flour just for these cookies.
Depending on the brand, masa harina’s price point can range from just under $4 for about 4.4 pounds from the most common and available brand in grocery stores, Maseca. Expect to pay up to $12 for gorgeous heirloom varieties such as the masa harina from Masienda.
NOTES:
You’ll be browning a portion of the butter and reserving the rest to add immediately after it’s browned. This reserved cold butter will melt as it hits the hot browned butter — it’s that temperature difference that will keep the butter from any chance of burning, an easy mistake to make since the butter can go very quickly from perfectly golden brown to burnt and lacking any of that nutty, almost toffee-like flavor.
I used these Guittard chocolate wafers because I had some from a previous baking project and they worked perfectly in these cookies. If you prefer chips, measure out about 1 ½ cups; if you’ll be chopping chocolate for chunks, you’ll use two 3.5 ounce bars.
Let cookies cool for a while, about 15 minutes, directly on the hot baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack. Don't try to move them to the rack right after baking as they are delicate while hot.
Masa Harina Chocolate Chunk Cookie
Yield: about 15
Bake time: 12-13 minutes
8 ounces (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces, divided
180 grams (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
47 grams (about ½ cup) masa harina
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
284 grams (1 ⅓ cups) grated piloncillo or dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract
200 grams (about 1 ½ cups) 66% or higher dark chocolate wafers, chunks, or chips
Flaky sea salt
Toast the masa harina:
Toast the masa harina in a dry skillet set over medium-high heat until fragrant, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula. Remove from the heat and set aside (it’s fine to leave the masa harina in the dry skillet as it cools).
Brown the butter:
Set a light-colored skillet over medium heat; place a large heat-proof mixing bowl close by. Add 12 tablespoons of the butter to the skillet. Swirl butter constantly using a wire whisk or rubber spatula to ensure an even browning. This will take between 5-8 minutes.
Once the butter is browned, transfer it to the heat-proof bowl. Any flecks in the pan are from the toasted milk solids and where much of the browned flavor comes from — scrape every last bit out!
Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter; whisk until melted and fully incorporated. Let brown butter cool slightly before using, about 10 minutes.
Make the cookie dough:
Add all dry ingredients including the cooled, toasted masa harina to a small mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
To the mixing bowl with the browned butter, add the piloncillo or dark brown sugar. Using a wire whisk, mix butter and sugar vigorously to combine. Add in the eggs and vanilla; whisk again.
Add the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula; the dough will be thick. Add the chocolate discs, feves, chunks, or chips and stir until chocolate is dispersed throughout the dough.
Scoop out cookies:
Line a small baking sheet that can fit in your fridge with parchment.
Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough balls that weigh about 50 grams each (about 2.5 tablespoons each). Place cookie balls on the baking sheet; don’t worry about spacing them out from each other until we bake them.
Wrap baking sheet with plastic and chill cookie balls for 45 minutes or up to 72 hours before baking.
Bake cookies:
Heat oven to 350F when ready to bake (no need to let the cookie dough come back to room temp before baking). Line a half sheet baking pan or large cookie sheet with parchment.
Place cookies on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart, they will spread in the oven. Bake until the cookies have puffed and are a warm brown, about 11-13 minutes.
Sprinkle cookies with a little flaky sea salt once they come out of the oven. Leave cookies to cool on the baking sheet, about 15 minutes, before carefully transferring to a cooling rack.
Continue with the remaining cookie dough.
Transfer cookies to a cookie jar or other airtight container where they will remain soft and delicious for up to 3 days, if they last that long.