Polenta Crisp

Gluten-free, sweet and crunchy crisp, this biscuit is perfect for matching with a light fool, jam or on its own.

I was in a bit of a pickle the other day. I had a beautiful gooseberry curd to spread on my bread but I really didn’t feel like having a heavy dense piece of sodabread to accompany such a light and fluffy curd. The baby was asleep and I didn’t fancy kneading or waiting for a yeast based dough to rise.  I took a look in the press to see if I had any shop bought butter thin biscuits only to find that the cupboard was bare of all biscuits.  Normally I’d have at least 1 roll of cookie dough in the freezer, none there either.

While rummaging in the back of one of the presses I found a sad bag of polenta.  I’m not a big fan of cooked polenta, I don’t know what it is is.  Whether it’s just that I’ve never had (or been able to make) the perfect polenta dish. If I were to describe this biscuit recipe I’d say it’s a bit like a brandy snap.

20 mins after I started baking the polenta crisps were cooked and my sister (who lives very close by), nipped over to sample the end product. Lets just say that if I had made more, she would have either eaten them all or taken every single polenta crisp home with her along with the gooseberry curd if I had let her!

Ingredients

• 100g butter at room temperature
• 100g caster sugar
• 125g polenta
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Equipment

• 1 large bowl & wooden spoon OR 1 stand mixer with paddle attachment
• Weighing Scales
• Cling Film
• Greaseproof Baking Parchment
• 2 Baking Trays
• 1 Sharp Knife
• Wire cooling rack
• Large, clean glass
• Kitchen paper towels (or kitchen roll if you’re Irish!)

Method

1. Weigh out the butter and sugar into your bowl.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light, creamy and fluffy.
3. Pour in the vanilla extract and beat again until mixed together.
4. Add the polenta and cream again until thoroughly mixed. It will resemble sticky breadcrumbs.
5. Cut a large square of cling film and pour all the biscuit mixture into the middle then using your hands shape into a sausage.
6. Roll the cling film around the sausage and then tighten each end so that you squeeze out all the air and you get a roll of biscuit dough.
7. Place in the top of your fridge (the coldest part) chill and firm up for 10 mins or more.
8. Line your baking trays with the greaseproof baking parchment.
9. Once your sausage of dough is more solid, remove and cut thin slices.
10. Put only 2 slices well spaced apart on each baking tray as they will spread.
11. Bake for 7 mins or until golden (but not dark) brown.
12. Remove the tray from the oven and set to 1 side for 5 mins.
13. After 5 mins if you want to curl your biscuit, scoop the biscuit off the tray with a spatula and then drape over a glass or mug until it cools.
14. The amount of butter in these biscuits prevents them from sticking to the glass.
15. Note: There is a lot of butter but that is because the polenta is absorbent.  If you find that the biscuits are greasy then once they have cooled on the tray place on a cooling rack with kitchen roll underneath to catch any drips.
16. Best served fresh on the day they are baked, but the dough itself will keep for 3 days in the fridge or freezes for up to a month.