Cornflakes and butter flavor simple cookies

Cornflakes were 2-boxes-for-1 at Safeway this weekend, allowing for a quick turnaround on Rita Ho’s cookie recipe request, received just last week.

Actually, the credit goes to the three intrepid readers who sent in the recipe for Kihei Golden Sands — a cornflake cookie — but it certainly didn’t hurt to get a bargain on the principal ingredient. Proves the stars were aligned on this request.

"It was featured in the paper back in the early to mid-’80s," Ho wrote. "It’s a super simple recipe, but yummy."

Martha Masuda was first with the formula — "I still have the original clipping put together with tape," she says — although she never made the cookies herself. Masuda wins a cookbook, my thank-you gift to anyone who solves a recipe mystery for me.

Thanks also to Betty Arakaki, who kindly wrote the recipe on an index card so I can keep it in my recipe box, and Dorothy Church, who also came through.

This is indeed a simple cookie. It’s like a shortbread in texture — buttery and soft, made without eggs. The cornflakes are the "sand" part. You need to grind them to sandlike crumbs and roll the cookies in them before baking. For this task, a blender or food processor works better than the old-fashioned method of putting the flakes in a bag and beating them with a rolling pin.

I also suggest butter, not margarine, as the taste is dependent on a true butter flavor.

This recipe is adapted from the original, based on my weekend test batch.

KIHEI GOLDEN SANDS

1 pound butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 cups corn flakes, ground to fine crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla.

Sift together flour and baking soda; add to sugar mixture.

Form dough into small balls; roll in crumbs. Place on cookie sheet and flatten to a half-dollar size. Bake 15 minutes, until a light brown. Makes about 4 dozen.

Nutritional information unavailable.

YET ANOTHER COOKIE MYSTERY

Nadine Siak is trying to track down a cookie with a filling of green tea leaves. "Yes, I know it sounds very odd — but there are some green teas where the leaves have a very pleasant, sweetish taste." Who has a clue? Even if you know only the name of this cookie, it could put us on the trail.