Cornmeal raisin cookies

Raisin cornmeal cookies hot off the oven, anyone?

I can't help but think of cornmeal being chicken feed because of farming days in my childhood. It's still a bit strange that what the chickens used to eat has become sort of fashionable health food nowadays. Cornmeal is not your typical Chinese ingredient or staple and all I know about this ground grain is that it was used in the Americas as a staple.

Besides making polenta out of cornmeal, I have no idea that it can be used to make a crunchy cookie such as this until I stumble upon this recipe. My verdict ? It is much easier to work with than expected.

Verdict : Cornmeal in cookies need some getting used to and if I should bake this again, I will reduce the cornmeal by 50% and replace it with wholemeal flour.

Adapted from http://www.marthastewart.com/337396/cornmeal-cherry-cookies

Ingredients :

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon fine salt

85g unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

 1/2 tsp lemon extract

1/4 cup raisins ,chopped

Method :

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Beat in vanilla and lemon extract and  egg. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture ( I did this in 3 batches ) ; beat until just combined. Stir in raisins.

Transfer dough to a waxed paper; pat into a log, 8 inches long and 2 inches wide. Roll up the  parchment paper with the dough inside. Using a bamboo mat or by hand, form it into a rectangle . Twist ends of parchment to seal. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. I sped up the process by freezing the log for 35 minutes

Preheat oven to  170 C.

Line two baking sheets with parchment or grease the baking tray generously. Slice dough 1/4 inch  thick, rotating log 1/4 turn after each slice to keep the square in shape. Place 1/2 inch apart on baking sheets.

Keep the cookies chilled until the oven is ready. This reduces the likelihood of the cookie spreading out too much when baked.

Bake at 170C for 10 to 12 minutes.

Cool cookies on a wire rack.