Cornstarch Butter Cookies

Four ingredients. That’s all it takes to make cookies that dissolve on your tongue like buttery little clouds.

The secret is cornstarch. Lots of it. Combined with cake flour, it creates an impossibly tender, crumbly cookie that practically melts before you can chew. No eggs, no vanilla, no leavening. Just butter, sugar, cake flour, and cornstarch doing what they do best.

Baked low and slow, these tiny one-inch cookies come out pale and delicate. The recipe makes about 100, which sounds like a lot until you realize nobody can eat just one.

Baker’s Tips

• Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly. This is where the texture comes from since there are no eggs to provide structure.
• Sift the cake flour and cornstarch together before adding to the butter. Lumps of cornstarch won’t dissolve during baking.
• Keep them small (1 inch) and don’t overbake. They should be barely golden, not brown. The low oven does the work.
• These are fragile. Let them cool completely on the baking sheet before moving or they’ll crumble in your hands.