Friday 6 July 2012

lemon polenta biscuits

Our poor bank balance has been smashed the last two months. Rates, utilities, dance fees, kindy fees, mechanic, plumber, car rego, insurance, more utilities.. and so it goes. Just when things looked rosy, I booked our holiday airfares. Cue plumber and mechanic to rain on our parade. We have never experienced bills like this before, with such terrible timing. Shit happens. We push through.

So we are rationing through the school holidays - of all the times be without any bloody money! The grocery list consisted of essentials. Only essentials. So our regular baking meant nothing fancy. Just using your basic baking essentials that are always in the pantry. This recipe is from The Australian  Women's Weekly Cheap Eats cookbook. So appropriate considering we are totally cheap for another whole week. Boo hiss. Boo hiss again to monthly pay cycles. Boo hiss again again to the blurry photo below. I was too lazy to rectify the rubbish. If you squint, the baking paper is in focus.


This is not a sweet biscuit, I would even go so far as to say it could almost pass for savoury. If you like a good tangy punch to anything lemony, you could easily add more juice or rind. Next time, I will. They are not as lemony as I had expected, or hoped for. The dough comes together similar to a shortbread, but is much denser in the finish, providing a crunchy bite, not a crumbly one. The best part is, Eliot and I are the only ones who like them. I think the texture of the polenta through the biscuit put the other three off. Perhaps a love it or hate it recipe. You decide.







Lemon Polenta Biscuits
(makes roughly 30-35)

250g softened butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (200g) icing sugar
2 tbsp finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup (85g) polenta
2 1/2 cups (375g) plain flour
1 tbsp lemon juice

Beat butter, extract, icing sugar and 1 teaspoon of the rind* in bowl with electric mixer until combined. Stir in polenta, flour and juice, in two batches (I combined flour and polenta first). Knead dough on floured surface until smooth. Divide dough in half; shape pieces into two 20cm long logs. Cover, refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Preheat oven to 200/180 fan forced. Line baking sheets with baking paper. Cut logs into 1cm slices; place on oven trays, sprinkle remaining rind over biscuits. Bake about 15 minutes. Stand for 5 minutes; turn onto wire rack to cool.


*I recommend adding both tablespoons of rind into the dough and forget about sprinkling over the top before baking. The bits on top provide no extra flavour and the biscuits could use more tang (for my liking anyway).



Let me know if you love them or hate them.

7 comments:

  1. Love the beater photos! And I think I will love this recipe! I'm going to try it out, but modify with a dairy-free butter like nutalex... Hope it works! Thanks Tahnee x

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  2. Well, I didn't need to squint to see that baking paper in focus!
    Cole's obviously loving that mix too. It could be the type of lemon you used that made for the not very lemony taste. I read in Don Burkes Organic book that Meyer lemons are not as lemony and have an inferior skin that are no good used grated in recipes. Perhaps it was a Meyer lemon. This is, of course, what we have planted. Boooo!

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  3. These look scrumptious!! I'll let you know how they turn out- I want to try them too!! x

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  4. How insanely gorgeous is your boy? :)
    Am keen to try these bikkies, definitely with the extra lemon.
    x

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  5. I love the beater licking! I am going to give these a try later in the week. I have polenta flour so I might try and use that instead of regular polenta? Boo for all the bills, I know too well what that is like. xx

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  6. Bills suck! Especially not bring able to pay rego by the month or 6 monthly it is such a budget breaker. These biscuits look delish! Love the pics x

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  7. These look delish Tahnee, and your boy is so so cute. I gave my Maksi the beaters to lock the other the day and then I had to stand in front if the furniture like a goalie. xx

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I love to hear from you, thankyou so much for taking the time to leave a comment x

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