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
- Weigh out the butter and sugar into your bowl.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light, creamy and fluffy.
- Pour in the vanilla extract and beat again until mixed together.
- Add the polenta and cream again until thoroughly mixed. It will resemble sticky breadcrumbs.
- Cut a large square of cling film and pour all the biscuit mixture into the middle then using your hands shape into a sausage.
- 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.
- Place in the top of your fridge (the coldest part) chill and firm up for 10 mins or more.
- Line your baking trays with the greaseproof baking parchment.
- Once your sausage of dough is more solid, remove and cut thin slices.
- Put only 2 slices well spaced apart on each baking tray as they will spread.
- Bake for 7 mins or until golden (but not dark) brown.
- Remove the tray from the oven and set to 1 side for 5 mins.
- 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.
- The amount of butter in these biscuits prevents them from sticking to the glass.
- 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.
- 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.
2 Comments
Aoife Maxwell
Ooh these look really good. I’ve made thicker orange and polenta biscuits before (to go with chocolate pots) but i like the how light these look. I also have a sad bag of polenta in my cupboard so might experiment at the weekend – thanks!
Wholesome Ireland
Ah somebody understands what I mean!!! They are very light and very delicious.