Sunlight  floods the kitchen – at last.  On the  windowsill, my cats squeeze themselves  between the pot of hyacinths and the tulips, looking lazily at the little robin perched on a branch of the willow tree.

We sit at the table, a mug of coffee for P. and a cup of Darjeeling for me. I savour my biscuit in silence, appreciating its buttery goodness and sandy texture.

“These are similar to Canestrelli“  says P. munching his biscuit – “but they have a background taste that I can’t figure out..”

“It’s the maize meal.”  I say.

He looks surprised. “Maize? But they’re not rustic at all!”

“Well, that’s because I used a very fine maize meal…and vanilla extract. Vanilla makes everything more…sophisticated.” I answer.

“They’re not too sweet. I like that.”  he adds, reaching for another biscuit.

“Yes there’s little sugar in these biscuits, but maybe that’s why they’re so addictive…”

P. nods, and steals another biscuit. I close the tin box.

“Tomorrow, you’d better take this at work and share the biscuits with your colleagues!”-  I say, and hide the tin box at the back of the cupboard.

Tips & Notes

• I recommend using a fine maize meal, with a texture similar to flour; coarse maize meal (like the one used to make polenta), gives the biscuits a rustic, coarser texture.
• The dough is very crumbly and needs to rest in the fridge for 1 hour (or even overnight), otherwise it’ll be unmanageable and you won’t be able to roll it.
• Once the biscuits are baked they’ll be quite fragile and if you handle them immediately they might break,  so let them rest in the baking tray for a few minutes  before transferring  on to a wire rack to cool.
• These biscuits are best eaten after a few hours; store them in a tin box or airtight container for about 10 days (they might last even more, but I cannot vouch for that…they tend to disappear very quickly!)

Maize shortbread

110 gr plain (all purpose) flour  (3.9 oz)

80 gr fine maize meal (2.8 oz.)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch of salt

90 gr unsalted butter, at room temperature (3.2 oz.)

50 gr caster sugar (1.8 oz.)

1 medium egg yolk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• Pour flour, maize meal, baking powder and salt in a bowl; whisk together until mixed, then set aside.
• Using an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract, and mix until fully incorporated.
• Using a spatula, mix in the flour in 3 times, until the mix resemble  coarse crumbs.
• Pour the mix over a sheet of cling film and quickly compact the dough, using the cling film as a kneading aid (see video).
• Cover the dough with another piece of cling film, flatten into a disk and chill for 1 hour in the fridge.
• Preheat the oven to 180° C (355° F).
• Roll the dough  1/2 cm thick (1/4 inch) and using a pastry cutter cut the biscuits. Gather all the dough scraps together, compact them again, then roll the dough and cut more biscuits.
• Place all the biscuits on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for about 15 minutes, until the biscuits are slightly golden at the edges.
• Let the biscuits cool on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer on to a rack and let cool completely.
• Store in a tin box for about 10 days.

Link to printable recipe: click here

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Tagged as: baking, biscuit, cookie, shortbread