Polenta Holiday Cookies Recipe from Chef Silvia Baldini

Crispy, crunchy, polenta cookies. The recipe was kindly gifted to me by my MIL Elisabetta. They have become a welcome tradition in my family. We make them a couple of weeks ahead of the holidays and keep them fresh in metal tin, lined with parchment paper. The mix of polenta and potatoes starch gives them a melt in your mouth texture. I like to dust them with a light coating of powder sugar and I enjoy them as treat with tea or when my sweet tooth requires a fixing.

Polenta Holiday Cookies

Servings 30 small cookies

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups fine italian polenta

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup potato starch italian fecola

• 1 cup ground almonds

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 pinch fine sea salt

• 1 stick butter unsalted

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 medium zest of a lemon

• 1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

• 2 large eggs

• powder sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. In a bowl, mix together the polenta, flour, potato starch, almonds, baking powder and salt.

2. In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one by one, then add the lemon and the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until a firm dough forms.

3. Divide the dough in half, place each piece onto a piece of parchment or wax paper, Cover with another piece of parchment and roll out both pieces with a pin in to two 1/4 inch thick rectangles. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Cut the cookies with small shaped cookie cutters. Place on the prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating halfway through, until cookies are just golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Dust with powder sugar.

5. Polenta cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.