corn syrup in a cookie recipe

[torakris]

I don't bake a lot but when I do it is cookies.

I just ran across this recipe in one of my cookbooks that calls for a 1/4 cup of corn syrup in what is essentially a thin oatmeal cookie. Corn syrup isn't sold in Japan but I would really like to give this cookie a try.

1/4 cup seems like a lot to leave out completely, are there any suitable substitutes?

I have never seen corn syrup in a cookie recipe before, what advantage does it have?

[K8memphis]

Are you making lace cookies? I wonder if you could substitute honey?

[K8memphis]

My cat was in my lap and I couldn't grab my cookie book.

I was wrong--no there's only some milk butter & sugar in lace cookies.

But still you might could substitute honey.

[torakris]

The book calls them Chocolate Florentines. They are similar to lace cookies but are a little bit thicker and two of them are sandwiched with melted chocolate.

The recipe calls for melted butter to be mixed with oatmeal, flour, sugar, corn syrup, milk, vanilla and salt.

[K8memphis]

I wouldn't have any problem subbing honey, even cane syrup or a bit of glucose. Especially since it's a chocolate cookie. I think the only difference is the flavor of the honey will be an additional flavor so with the chocolate it won't be as prominent/noticeable.

[sanrensho]

You could try mizuame, since it's also an invert sugar. Of course, mizuame is thicker so your success might vary depending on the amount of liquid in the recipe and the mixing method.

Or a mixture of mizuame and honey to thin out the mizuame.

[Sethro]

Corn syrup is abot 70% as sweet as sugar, whereas honey is close to 130%, so I wouldn't make that substitution. Its presence in the reipe is pobably to add in the spreading of the cookies. I have no idea what they sell in Japan that's similar to corn syrup but you could warm some honey and cut it with an equal part of water. That might be about the same viscosity and sweetness.

Edited February 3, 2007 by Sethro (log)

[sanrensho]

I have no idea what they sell in Japan that's similar to corn syrup but you could warm some honey and cut it with an equal part of water.

Based on what Sethro is saying, you could also try thinning out the mizuame with water.

[torakris]

I do have both mizuame and honey in the house, I really hate working with mizuame as it sticks to everything. Should I lessen the amount of sugar do you think?

It calls for 1 cup of sugar to 2 cups oatmeal and 2/3 cup flour, that already sounds like a lot to me.

[K8memphis]

Sethro is of course correct that honey is sweeter. I would use 2 tablespoons of honey--just cut it in half. But there are other ways to do it. Like cut back on the granulated sugar the way you suggested. But I don't think that's a lot of sugar for that amount of flour & oats, not for cookies.

But what I would do to balance out sugary stuff is substitute some almond meal for oats. A little protein in there does wonders. Like I would do a third cup-ish. It really anchors all that sweet stuff.

[Luckylies]

is mizuame millet jelly?

that was my first thought.

[Blether]

Don't you just love "Cook's Thesaurus" ? http://www.foodsubs.com/Syrups.html (corn syrup's not quite half way down).

I have a funny feeling I've seen corn syrup somewhere - I mean without having to go to a coffee chain and (purloin and later) open 100 little pots of it (is that stuff corn syrup ?). Nisshin would be my bet.

If you google 'corn syrup substitute' there are one or two recipes. Cream of tartar used to be another no-show in Tokyo but I saw that somewhere too, recently (sorry, again, no detail) - and then one recipe calls for it, one doesn't.

My guess is that mizuame diluted with water would be a very adequate substitute if you had an idea of the viscosity you were aiming for. They're both starch-to-sugar process syrups. I've also seen a number of recipes quote the two as direct substitutes. Zap the mizuame in the microwave briefly to make it pour ?

Luckylies: it wouldn't even be that strange, would it ? 'Mizu' is water and 'ame' is candy - more info in Wikipedia. Here's a hard-to-believe story:

>>

... there is the old story I heard about a foreigner in pre-war Japan who had a fetish about rainwater and its relation to health. He came to the brilliant conclusion one day that filling his bath with rainwater would be good for his health, and so he was trying to tell the maid that for health reasons he wanted his bath filled with rainwater. Now "rain" is "ame" and "water" is "mizu" in Japanese, and so it seemed logical to simply put the two together. In fact, that is how it is done in Japanese, except that it's pronounced "amamizu" instead of "amemizu". Unfortunately, however, this freaky foreigner got the two turned around and he said "mizuame" instead of "amemizu". From previous experience with this "health nut", the maid, after several reconfirmations, took him seriously and filled his tub with "mizuame" as requested. Being heated from a fire below, it was even nice and hot (and apparently very inviting) as our hapless friend got ready for his bath. How far he was able to get his foot in before realizing he was in a really sticky situation is unknown, but imagine his surprise to find out the hard way that "mizuame" is roughly equivalent to "corn syrup"!

<<

- from "Alien Times" Flactured Ranguage

[helenjp]

Mizuame does work, but I think you could reduce the amount to about half - it's so stiff!

I think the syrup is there for texture (keeps the cookie moist longer), so you could leave it out entirely, especially if you think that the cookies aren't going to be around long enough for storage properties to be a problem!