Monday, September 07, 2009

Italian Polenta Cookies...



These cookies from Martha Stewart are wonderful!!! The photo above is how Martha says to shape them, but I got tired of doing it that way and decided to roll them into balls and smoosh them with the bottom of a glass so they look like this...



Oops! Looks like someone snuck a little bite there!

No matter how you shape these, they are TASTY!!!! The texture reminds me of a pecan sandy but the flavor is slightly sweet with just a hint of lemon. Perfect!!!!

Italian Polenta Cookies
(from Martha Stewart)


1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Italian polenta or coarse yellow cornmeal*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, polenta, and salt in a bowl.

Put butter, sugar, and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add egg and egg yolk, one at a time, beating after each addition to combine. Mix in vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 7/16-inch star tip (such as Ateco #825).

Pipe S shapes about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide, spacing 1 ½ inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Chill in freezer until dough is firm about 30 minutes. Bake cookies until edges are golden, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies on parchment to wire racks; let cool about 10 minutes. Remove cookies from parchment, and transfer to racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

*I ground my corn meal fresh and used that instead of polenta. YUM!

6 comments:

Mama Z's said...

Sounds yummy! I think I'll give these a try!

lillie mae acres said...

I can't wait to try them. I like the shape Martha does, but I bet that does get tiring after a few. Thanks for passing this recipe on. I love your blog and am now a follower of it. Come on over and look through mine, Lillie Mae Acres.

Diana Ferguson said...

Either way--gotta be good!

Scientific Housewife said...

I love baking and these cookies sound great!

Cyndi Lewis said...

Sorry,
Gotta disagree with you on this one. I tried this cookie from Martha's cookie book and my family and the neighbor's family did not enjoy them. Every one, myself included thought they tasted like we were eating sand.

Mrs. U said...

Hi Cyndi!!
HAHA! I can see why you would say this!! LOL!!

I was worried about using the larger grains of polenta which is why I used cornmeal insteal.

I do love lemon scented cookies, so that just pushed it over the top for me!! :)

His,
Mrs. U

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin