I've recently been watching a lot of cable tv, particularly the food channels, and recently heard mention of polenta and realised I'd never tried it. So went and bought some and googled polenta cake. I wanted to avoid the one with oil so this was it!
Also wanted to bring something in to work and decided to make the popular weetbix slice.
I also made some choc chip m&m cookies before xmas but unfortunately didn't take any pics of the beauties.
Nigella's Tangy Lemon Polenta Cake
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Cake
250g butter, softened
Rind of 2 lemons, finely grated
1C caster sugar
3 eggs separated
1/4 C lemon juice
150g almond meal (1 1/2C)
1C fine polenta
Syrup
1/4C icing sugar
1/4C lemon juice
Method
1. Preheat oven to 140C fan-forced. Line a 20cm diameter round cake tin.
2. Beat butter, rind and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Slowly add the egg yolks, beating well.
4. Stir in the juice, almonds and polenta.
5. Whip/beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Carefully fold this into the polenta mixture.
6. Spread into tin and bake for 1hr or until skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
7. Meanwhile, boil the lemon juice and sugar (syrup ingredients), stirring until sugar dissolves.
8. Poke holes with skewer all over hot cake and spoon syrup all over the top.
Verdict
At first I ate this warm with a little honey but wasn't too keen on it. Later I had a cold slice from the fridge and liked it much better. This is truly quite tangy so you have to be a lemon-lover. Will probably try a different recipe next time. Next I'll make a chocolate polenta cake though.
Chocolate & coconut slice
Ingredients
3 weetbix or equivalent
1C desiccated coconut
1/2C caster sugar
1C SR flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
150g butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2C icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
2-3 tbsp hot water
Method
1. Preheat oven to 160C. Line a 16x26cm baking pan.
2. Break up biscuits finely. Place into a mixing bowl with coconut and sugar.
3. Sift flour and cocoa over the weetbix mix and stir.
4. Melt butter in a small saucepan over a low heat (or microwave) then pour over dry ingredients.
5. Add vanilla. Mix well.
6. Spoon mixture into pan and press down to level. Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked.
7. Meanwhile sift icing sugar and cocoa into a small bowl. Add water and stir well. Ice slice while still hot. Cut into squares to serve.
Verdict
Nice! A little crumbly so would probably add extra butter next time and make sure the weetbix was crushed quite finely. Had trouble with the icing too for some reason and had to add extra water. The slice had cooled a bit too before I iced it which may also have caused my issues with spreading it.
Jaay's Best Ever Choc Chip cookies
Ingredients - makes at least 30 large cookies
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4C unsalted butter, melted
1C packed brown sugar
1/2C caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2C semisweet chocolate chips (or any mix of nuts/choc/candies etc - I used 1C milk choc chips and 1C red and green m&ms for an xmas theme)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 140C fan-forced. Line baking trays (at least two - there will be many batches).
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
3. Mix the sugars and butter just until thoroughly mixed, then add egg, yolk and vanilla and mix until creamy.
4. Add the sifted ingredients and mix until just blended.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips/chunks
6. Drop 1/4 cup of the dough (I'd recommend less as they spread MAJORLY) onto baking trays, at least 5cm apart, and bake for 15-17 minutes.
7. Leave them on the cookie sheet to cool a bit when removed from the oven (this is important… they fall apart if you move them too quickly). Once they cool a few minutes, remove the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Verdict
A-freaking-mazing. That is all.
Next up - cinnamon buns
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