Crumbl Cornbread Cookie Recipe With Honey Butter and Honey Buttercream

Crumbl describes its Cornbread Cookie as “a warm cornbread cookie smothered with honey butter glaze, then topped with a dollop of thick honey buttercream frosting and a drizzle of honey.” It is a returning flavor that people search for often, but it is not on the menu every week, which is exactly why people look for a recipe they can bake whenever they want.

The cookie should taste like the sweet, buttery cornbread served with honey butter at a barbecue restaurant: soft and tender, with a little corn texture, not dry or crumbly. Three layers of honey make it more of a dessert than a side dish. You can find the rest of our home versions of bakery favorites in the Crumbl copycat recipe collection.

Choosing the cornmeal

Use fine yellow cornmeal. Medium and coarse grinds stay crunchy in a 12-minute bake, and the cookie ends up gritty. Corn flour is too fine and loses the cornbread texture. If your cornmeal only says “cornmeal,” pulse it in a blender for 20 seconds to make it finer.

Honey in three places

Two tablespoons of honey in the dough keep the cookie moist and give it a soft, almost cakey texture. The glaze adds shine and a sticky honey-butter layer, and the buttercream and drizzle carry the strongest honey flavor. A mild clover or wildflower honey works best; dark buckwheat honey overpowers the corn.

1. Whisk the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Cream butter, sugars, and honey. Beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and honey for 2 minutes until creamy.
3. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla. Beat in the egg, the yolk, and the vanilla.
4. Finish and rest the dough. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined, then let the dough rest 10 minutes so the cornmeal can hydrate.
5. Shape and chill. Scoop 10 portions of about 86 g, roll into balls, flatten slightly to about 1 inch thick, and chill 30 minutes.
6. Bake. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are light golden and the centers are just set.
7. Glaze while warm. Whisk the melted butter, honey, and powdered sugar and brush a thin coat over the warm cookies. Cool completely.
8. Make the honey buttercream. Beat the butter until smooth, add the powdered sugar, then the honey, cream, and salt until fluffy.
9. Top and drizzle. Pipe or spoon a dollop of honey buttercream on each cookie and finish with a thin drizzle of honey.

The 10-minute rest after mixing is easy to skip, but it gives the cornmeal time to absorb moisture. Skip it and the baked cookie feels sandy.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Honey and brown sugar make the dough brown faster than a sugar cookie, so the edges turn light golden before the center is fully set. Pull the cookies when the middle is just firm to a light touch. For smaller 50 g cookies, bake 8 to 9 minutes.

Real cornbread is crumbly because cornmeal has no gluten. This recipe keeps a cornbread taste with a cookie structure by using about 2 1/2 parts flour to 1 part cornmeal. The flour holds the cookie together; the cornmeal gives flavor and a little bite.

Honey is hygroscopic, meaning it pulls moisture from the air, so a cookie with honey stays soft longer. The extra egg yolk adds fat and color, and the cornstarch softens the crumb. A 30-minute chill keeps the cookies about an inch thick so the center bakes up tender.

Honey butter glaze

Whisk the melted butter, honey, and powdered sugar into a thin glaze and brush it over the cookies while they are still warm. The warm surface absorbs some of it, and the rest sets into a sticky, shiny coat.

Honey buttercream

The buttercream is thicker than the glaze and goes on only after the cookies are completely cool. Beat the butter until pale, add the powdered sugar, then the honey and cream. Use a large spoon or a piping bag with a round tip to make one generous dollop in the center, then drizzle a little honey over the top just before serving.

• Brown butter: brown the butter for the dough, chill it until firm, and use it as written for a toasty flavor.
• Cinnamon honey butter: add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the buttercream.
• Less sweet: skip the buttercream and serve the glazed cookies warm.
• Fall cookie tray: bake these with a batch of the Crumbl churro cookie recipe for a warm-spice pairing.

Because of the buttercream, keep frosted cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Let them sit out for 15 minutes, or warm an unfrosted cookie for 10 seconds, to bring back the soft texture. Glazed but unfrosted cookies freeze for 2 months.

The bakery figures are copied from Crumbl’s official profile (checked 2026-10-21) and sit on our Crumbl Cornbread Cookie page. The homemade number is an estimate: we added up standard calorie values for every gram in the ingredient list and divided by 10 cookies, so a bigger or smaller scoop changes it. The bakery cookie is heavier than our 86 g portion, which is part of why its number is higher. See where it falls against the heaviest flavors in the highest-calorie Crumbl cookies ranking. When it does return, check this week’s Crumbl flavors before heading to the bakery.

For a simpler first bake with the same method, try the vanilla sugar cookie copycat.