I’m very familiar with Manna’s Lemon Polenta Cakes. I first tried one years and years ago and as a bit of a lemon fiend I fell for them instantly. They were almost bite sized (although I’d make them last for 2-3 bites). I’m good at making food last. When was young we rarely got potato chips and when we would (chicken, crinkle cut of course) I’d eat the chip crinkle by crinkle trying to prolong the flavour whilst simultaneously trying my mother’s patience as I’d take a good 10 minutes to eat a bowl of chips. So making these petite baby cakes last 2-3 bites long is child’s play.
These lemon cakes are sold at cafes and delis everywhere an are as ubiquitous as the other symbol of Australian cafe food, Portuguese custard tarts. When I was contacted about reviewing the book the first question I asked was whether the lemon cake recipe featured and sure enough, it was and better still it was a simple recipe! The other great thing is that I can imagine you could do this cake with all other types of citrus like orange, lime, blood orange or mandarin or even other tart fruit like passionfruit. It’s a sturdy, easy to bake recipe as as Rachel says freezes well and is very firm so it can withstand all sorts of decorations on top as well as being gluten free.
As for the rest of the book, her story writes like a dream. Whilst living in North Bondi, Rachel Grisewood started making her now famous chocolate crunch slice where it would be sold out of the back of her small Volkswagon. Years later her goods are now sold in cafes, delis and in stores nationwide and on Qantas First and Business Class flights. Now she is onto her fifth kitchen and has a staff of 30 that lunches together every day.
Her love of colour carries through the whole book with pinks and oranges, and icing sugar doily imprints stamped throughout the book. Recipes are of course rather sweet based (she apparently starts her daughter Olive’s day with chocolate and ends it with marshmallow) with an emphasis on biscuits. She generously shares her recipes for Chocolate Crunch and emon Polenta cake, her two outstanding sellers. Measurements are given in metric and imperial-even egg weight is given in quantities, then metric and then imperial so exactists will appreciate that.
Chapters are organised into things such as “Once Upon a Time” and and “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” and each chapter opens up with a page from Rachel with an explanation. Some sections are self explanatory such as “Cooking for family and friends” and “Having my cake and eating it too” but some are less easy to decipher the logic of. Many of the recipes are sweet so perhaps it was a way to organise a lot of sweet recipes into whimsical chapters. A quote of hers that appears in the book reads “That’s how Life is-all higgledy piggledy and certainly not perfect” and I assume some chapters are organised in a similar way. There are savoury dishes and items such as Duck Ragu with Papardelle look particularly good along with other cafe or bistro style savoury dishes. There’s a sense of humour there too with recipes such as “Stick It Up Your Date Cake” which I wanted to make just for the name and should I ever be required to make a cake for someone I don’t particularly like I’ll just call it “Lovely Date Cake” in a passive aggressive fashion.
The Chocolate Crunch bar
The only thing that I didn’t lust for was the photography as some of the photographs seemed almost blurry or oddly focused which is strange as I’ve loved photographer Adrian Lander’s photographs in other cookbooks. It’s all rather home style styling (see Simple Sponge and Olive’s Leaning tower of Pisa cake) which is nice as it’s all achievable but I prefer a bit of aspiration to photographs. More importantly, there’s also not enough photographs to keep me interested which is possibly why there are less post it notes that usual.
Chocolate bars with hazelnuts and prunes; raspberry and passionfruit coconut ice and white chocolate, frangelico and hazelnut truffles
Still, there’s a huge assortment of sweets and goodies and the ones that interested me particularly were items that I could bake and give to friends with Christmas coming up. They’re not overly fussy or delicate items so they’re ideal to pack up and give to people but they are the kind of things that will have your friends praising your Domestic Goddessery. And Dear Friends of mine, it is very likely that you will receive some of these goodies for Christmas!
Summary:
Achievability: 4.5 out of 5
Usability: 4 out of 5
Degree of difficulty: Easy-Medium
Food porn score: 2.5 out of 5. I didn’t go for a lot of the photography and there weren’t enough photographs to keep a food porn enthusiast like me happy.
Post it note tabbed recipes: 7
Gift book: Yes, if you like biscuits particularly and are already a Manna addict. The recipes feature items that are perfect for Christmas baking gifts if you like to bake your presents.
And I know I promised you a giveaway and this one’s a goodie. You can flick through the pages of the Manna from heaven cookbook whilst nibbling on some Manna from Heaven cookies from their Cookie Jar! Life doesn’t get much better does it? All you need to do is tell me the name of your favourite biscuit or cookie and why it is your favourite.
The giveaway ends midnight December 19th AEST. Enter as a comment on this story and this giveaway is open to Australian residents only.
***The Lucky Winners of the Manna from Heaven giveaway are:
Alison S.
Stefania M.
Kristina G.
Sara ***
Manna From Heaven is published by Allen & Unwin $59.99RRP
Lemon Polenta Cakes
- 225g/7 1/8 oz butter at room temperature
- 225g/7 1/8 oz caster or superfine sugar
- 3 eggs (165g/5 1.2 oz) lightly beaten
- 110g /3 3/4oz ground almond
- 110g /3 3/4oz shredded coconut long thread
- 110g /3 3/4oz fine polenta
- finely grated zest of 2 lemon
- 2.5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
Icing
- 225g/ 71/8oz icing confectioner’s sugar, sieved
- 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
- Sugar flowers to decorate (optional)
1. Set the oven to 150c/300F. If making this as a large cake grease and line a 24cm (9.5 inch) round cake tin or if you are using mini muffin trays, butter them well and place a little square or circle of parchment on the base as shown to prevent any sticking. Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer for 2 minutes or until lump free (the mixture does not need to be light and fluffy). Slowly beat in the eggs, the fold in the ground almonds, polenta, lemon zest, lemon juice, baking powder and vanilla.
Fill them 2/3 or 3/4 of the way up
The baked cakes
2. Pour into cake tin. If you are using a mini muffin tray fill them 2/3 of the way up. Use the back of a spoon to flatten the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes for mini muffins or 30-50 minutes for a whole cake until they are just coming away from the side of the tin. Remove the squares of parchment.
3. To make the icing, mix the sieved icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth. Spoon over the cake/s letting the icing dribble down the sides a bit. Leave the icing to set.
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190 Comments | Add your own
I’ve seen this cookbook around and had no idea she was a local girl. I’m excited!
My favourie biscuit is a recipe I’ve been making since I was 14. It’s called death by chocolate.
Oh so pretty Lemon Polenta Cakes and they look like the originals, ‘Oh Lorraine, you’ve done it again.’Lol.
I remember the first time I tasted Manna from Heaven cakes was at the Aids Trust Food and Wine fair at Hyde Park many years ago and knew that they were onto a winner. I find some of their cakes very, very sweet though and can now understand via your story, that Rachel loves her sugar. I’d probably cut back on the sugar if I were to win the book and make some of the recipes. My favourite biscuit is Christmas Biscottini, not only do they taste divine and are chock full of just about everything but when baking and then eating them, I am transported back to childhood and remember many a happy Christmas and visions of mum baking them. The smell lingers in the house for hours, so,so comforting.
A great book and wondeful cakes!
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh, how gorgeous are some of those cakes and biscuits? And that Duck Ragu sounds lovely as well.
My favourite biscuit is one that I’ve made for years. I just call them Jaffa’s but it doesn’t have any jaffa’s in it. Instead there’s chunks of chocolate and finely grated orange zest and some orange marmalade if the mix looks a bit dry. Not an exact recipe, as you can tell! *lol* Orange and chocolate… yum!
oh how cute!! I like polenta cakes and these with coconut and almonds and citrus zest must be reall manna from heaven
I love Rachel– she’s insanely intelligent, funny, and a great baker. A fantastic lady. I had MFH cookies straight from the oven in their bakery in 2005 (well they had cooled). Loved every crumb.
My favorite cookie is an oatmeal raisin cookie with salt flakes. There’s something about the chewy sweet and salty contrast that I can’t get enough of. Not too crunchy, not too soft.
I’ve never perfected this cookie at home.
But alack and alas I am like Snoopy– all cookies are good. Some are just better than others.
Those polenta cakes are so cute! I wanna make some now!! Anyway, speaking of cookies, I have a few favourites I like to make. Last year, i made jars of chocolate chip cookies for my close friends for xmas. As for this year, I’m thinking about making melting moments…they’re my favourite cookies (for now)…
I’ve been looking for a good recipe for lemon polenta cakes for ages, thanks ever so much! They look beautiful.
My favorite biscuit isn’t one I’ve made but one from Marks and Spencer’s. Dark chocolate covered ginger rounds. They’re just so rich and sophisticated! Wonderful!
Katie xox
Those Lemon Polenta cakes look fantastic! My fave biscuits are a Melting Moments recipe from the country church I went to as a child. All the mums got together and made a recipe book and it always makes me feel so lovely using any of the recipes from it. We have had the book for 15 years and still use it at least a few times a month.
ooooh those cakes are adorable and I am so excited that they are gluten free! I have been looking for a recipe for a sweet treat to take to an upcoming party and I think these would be perfect!
great to see you rate this book – it is on my wish list and I think I may have to treat myself before Christmas
This looks absolutely yummy. I love polenta in baked goods, will try this out soon! Thanks for the recipe.
When it comes to cookbooks, I’m a huge photo person. I guess I just don’t have the imagination to picture the dish the recipe describes in my head. I have to say Lorraine, your food porn makes me want to have these beautiful little cakes right now!
My favourite bikkies are (store bought) gingernuts. The real ones. The hard, crunchy…. ohhh I know what I’m getting for morning tea!
I love polenta in cakes- in fact made an orange polenta cake with orange syrup for dessert on Friday night- so good with double cream.
My favourite biscuit are hazelnut biscotti with one half dipped in dark chocolate- yummo!!!
Me! Me! Me!!!!!
I too am very fond of the Manna From Heaven lemon polenta cakes. I also chicken crinkle cut chips by the crinkle …. after first licking off all the lovely chicken-y flavour of course.
Oooh favourite biscuits … well, I’d probably have to pick the Tollhouse cookies. It’s my favourite because it combines the crispy outside with a slightly soft inside, it has a lovely balance of sweet and a touch of salty, because it can carry anything with it (choc chips and macadamias being my personal favourite) and, last but absolutely not least, it freezes really well. So, a log of Tollhouse cookies in the freezer can be pulled out, sliced, popped in the oven and 15 minutes later you’ve got delicious hot cookies. Perfect if somebody drops over or a late night cookie craving hits. Which, let’s face it, has been known to happen!
10 minutes to eat a bowl of chips? That’s a skill I wish I was more familiar with! The cakes look so moreish too, I think I would be popping them into my mouth like popcorn haha.
Mmmm, that cookbook looks good~!
My favourite cookie… choc chip cookies that I make myself!
These cakes look fabulous – I am a huge lemon fan too, also polenta is a favourite, but nobody else in the house will eat it unless I hide it!!!
My favourite biscuit is Apricot and Oat Cobblestones. I love the name and the flavour.
I love Manna from Heaven’s gluten free cakes
The Lemon Polenta cakes looks like they came out really well – yum yum!
I love books that cater more to those with sweet tooths. My favourite biscuits change from time to time. But I find that I always revert to the classic digestives with a glass of cold milk. They calm and sooth me.
I am a lemon fiend too, and my Mum has made gorgeous lemon biscuits since I was a kid. I think they are freezer biscuits and are really moist. I must get the recipe…sooner rather than later. I love those lemon polenta cakes. At one workplace we were all given one of those little cakes for christmas from the boss. I’d love to be entered into the drawing for the book.
Having grown up in NZ your post the other day about getting hold of an Edmonds Cookbook brought back a number of childhood memories and I would have to say that Afghan cookies are my favourite!
Tim tams – because I always hold onto the thought of a never-ending packet existing
I have to win this please. To try new recipes that I know all the family will fall for. Yum lemons.
Thanks for the opportunity
I love melting moments as my grandma always made them and they remind me of childhood but grandma died without writing down her recipe and now i need a new love.
I love Bourke St’s Dark Chocolate and Sour Cherry Cookies, super dark and rich and chewy, with little hits of tartness when ever you get bits of dried cherry!
They look amazing, shame my diet has started today!
My favourite biscuit has to be the humble cornflake cookie, the more cornflakes and sultana’s the better.
Although my kiwi friend has introduced me to the Afghan’s which are pretty amazing.
Oh and my mum’s melting moments.
Too hard to choose!
My favourite cookie growing up were the pecan toffee crunch cookies that my Aunt use to make us. Everytime I eat them I am reminded of the good ol days when I use to play with my cousins. Oh the memories
Lemon? Polenta? I’m in! Yum yum!
“Food porn” *LOL!*
I love her Lemon Polenta Cakes – I just have to get one whenever I see them. They are devine! Thanks so much for the recipe, you’ve made my day.
My three year old loves helping me make biscuits, especially if they have “rainbows” (M&Ms)in them. Lately her fave is Rainbow Peanut Butter biscuits.
Oh those cakes look so good!
My all time favourite biscuit is a passionfruit shortbread.
I hunt these down. They’re just the thing with a coffee or juice. I think I’m going to have to go make some now!
MY favourite would have to be rock buns…just because they were something special my grandmother used to make. Lots of memories there!
Anzac biscuits. They are easy to make and yummy to munch any time of the day.
Were you dining at Sake Restaurant in the Rocks last night? If you weren’t 1) there was someone who looked very much like you and 2) think you would love it.
If it was you did you enjoy?
Good idea to put the small square of baking paper on the bottom – I made these recently and struggled to get many of them out of the pan. But they were still delicious!
oh – and my favorite biscuit is probably Dorie Greenspan’s world peace cookie – dark chocolate and fleur de sel – yummo!
This would be perfect for my new sister in law!
And I could make her some of my famous peanut butter choc chip cookies that are gluten AND dairy free and send everyone into raptures. They are THAT GOOD!
What gorgeous little cakes.
My favourite biscuit is the florentine, because I love the light, crunchy, delicate top combined with the rich, chocolatey bottom, and its pretty glace fruit studded appearance.
I’m definitely gonna try the polenta lemon cakes, they look light and tasty!
Great review- my favourite biscuit is called gingerman bread biscuits, named by my daughter. I love the imagery of that muddled-up name.
My favourite biscuits are my grandmother’s kourabiethes. Sadly she is no longer with us.
My mother makes them, and they are good, but not nearly as good as my grandmother’s.
NQN~ I was just trawling through some recipes stumped for new GF ideas for my girlfriend who I love baking for- She sometimes gets down at her limited culinary life, but I’m always on the hunt to brighten her day! I’m going to try making these for my Mother’s group this afternoon! Thank you!!!! They look so pretty too.
Ah heaven on a plate. Gluten free and lemon…I will see if I can make the cakes last as long as you did!
Those cakes look amazing…and ‘Nigella’d’ with the sugar’d roses!! My favourite biscuit is a chocolate hobnob. They are an English bikkie, and I am addicted to them….but they do require a little bit of searching out. My local gets them in for me…..
Sounds like a book I’d buy.
My go-to recipe for biscuits is “Radio Biscuits” from all of the CWA recipe books. 4 ingredients, 2 measurements. Once they were accidentally topped with peppermint glaze/icing and that added a surprisingly good new dimension to a faithful standby.
hmm sounds interesting! I do nowhere near enough baking, especially in summer but some of the recipes you mentioned sound great!
My fav cookie is chocolate chip. Nothing can ever beat a warm chocolate chip cookie.
Excellent review! looks like an interesting read.
My favourite would have to be anzac cookies, because they are so simple and remind me of my childhood.
I’ve bought so many Manna from Heaven goodies at markets over the years, it’s great that the cookbook has been released so we can try it ourselves.
My favourite cookie is the Chinese Almond Cookie. They are easy to make and taste just like the delicious ones that are served in restaurants. The final tick is that my version have my mother’s seal of approval!
I had a culinary disaster with this recipe on the weekend
. I had the oven on too hot, and they didn’t appreciate it at all. Very disappointed (with myself). I used the recipe that was in the delicious magazine, which I think is the same person. Your gorgeous little cakes have given me courage to try them again!
Again, not an Aust resident but you could send it to my mum, right? My favourite biscuit that you buy is a toss up between a Kingston and a Tim tam. For biscuits that you make, Anzac biscuits cos they remind me of home or melting moments with lemon cream in the middle.
PS: Love your story about chicken crinkle cut chips – I used to do the same thing!
Jeepers, the chocolate bars with hazelnuts and prunes had me at hello.
I love choccie bars but never ever thought of making my own – love it!
Wow, these lemon polenta cakes are a must try!!
My all-time favourite bickie is the iced vo-vo. There is a pleasure in separately enjoying the various components – the sticky jammy bit, the coconutty bits (each single flake tastes of palm trees and desert islands), the marshmallow, and of course the crispy biscuit. Tastes of childhood and the good old days.
I love Manna from Heaven cakes and Rachel Grisewood is a legend!I live in Marrickville so it is my mission in life to find out where their HQ is and see if they will give me a tour!
Re: competition question, my favourite biscuit is a good old fashioned Anzac biscuit but made with lots of sugar so they turn a little bit toffee.
E x
My favourite cookie has long been sultana cookies from a shop in England called Marks & Spencer. The cookies are buttery, crisp goodness with the vague promise of health from the sultanas. However upon moving to Australia I’ve had to learn how to make them for myself. After much trial and error I have succeeded – yey! With the added benefit that by sharing my trials my favourite cookie has now made me many new friends in my new country
White chocolate and macadamia cookies are my favourite. I don’t know why, I don’t normally like white chocolate, but they’re perfect in this cookie.
Those Lemon Polenta cakes look wonderful – next on the list to bake. My favourite biscuits are a lovely Ginger one from Belinda Jeffery’s Mix & Bake book … really delicious. I usually do a double mix and roll in parchment for the freezer – ready to slice and bake when peckish … delish
My favourite biscuits are Swedish gingerbread biscuits. I made these for last Xmas from a recipe from Kikki-K and they were rather different from the usual gingerbread biscuits. They are a lot crispier and have a bit more spice to them!
Polish Crispy Poppyseed Vanilla Biscuits will wow young and old. Yum yum.
Coconut and polenta in a cake sounds like a delicious combination! I would love to have this book but I am currently in rehab! haha… clap clap laugh!
What a gorgeously vibrant book! I don’t have too many biscuit recipes, so I would love to try some more. My favourite would have to be almond butter biscuits though. Yum Yum. I would love to try those lemon polenta cakes too… hmmm
I just love your blog and the photos just make me want to make everything. I’m with you in the photo dept. i need good photos to be inspired.
My fav bikkie is definitly the anzac made nice and thin with a wonderful snap when u bite into it.. just luv them!
Anzac biscuits are my fave -they are crunchy and sweet and easy to make – sorry it might sound boring but I’m just a traditionalist I suppose- but I’m going to give these lemon cakes a try they look soooooooo goooood.
love the look of that chocolate crunch slice! what is it in?!
guess i’ll have to read and find out
i’m a sucker for melting moments. they were my grandmother’s specialty and there was something so amazing about how they just dissolved on your tongue! since she’s passed i haven’t found one that can match up but i’ll keep looking
Oh those cakes look so pretty – definitely going to try and make them this week!
Yummm….i’m feeling such a sugar craving now! thanks for posting the recipe!
Funny post this!! My absolute favourite cafe sweet is Manna’s little lemon polenta cakes – being of Italian background who would have thought the stodgy polenta that I would have for family dinners could so beautifully transform into a luscious little treat. Well I have tried a couple of times to master this recipe – guessing along the way and yes I have come close, very, very close but now you have gone and posted the recipe – perfection plus. This would definitely have to be favourite little morsel – but if we are speaking cookies then Martha Stewarts Oatmeal-Apricot Cookies – made them this morning to include in my sons lunchbox for morning tea – omitted the almonds (nut free school) and replaced it with coconut flakes – they are divine – crunchy on the outside and extra chewy on the inside with the inclusion of dried apricots…..plus they include fruit so that makes them healthy right????
Those Lemon Polenta cakes do look like Heaven on a Stick, and yummo gluten free too so OK for me! My family like ANZAC BISCUITS best. I like them because they are so easy to make & the ingredients are always to hand.
An oldie but a goodie – my fave has to be anzac biscuits, takes me back to when I was a kid making them with my mum!
My favourite biscuits are these chocolate chip cookies my best friend in primary school’s mum made. They had enormous chunks of chocolate, weren’t too sweet, and as I remember were huge, probably the size of my hand (not so extraordinary as I was 6 at the time!). I’m still friends with her and her mum still makes me these for my birthday every year, where she likes to remind me that I christened them ‘mouse poo biscuits’ when I first saw them – no idea why as I doubt I had ever encountered mouse droppings at that age, but the name stuck!
oooh! Polenta cupcakes…nice. Good job with the icing!
Peaunut Butter and Choc Chunk cookies are my favourite at the moment. Replacing some of the butter with the Peanut butter gives it a great texture and the flavour is brillinat too!
I would love to make these Lemon Polenta Cakes with Passion fruit. Would I still use the zest of 2 lemons but substitute the Lemon juice in the cake and in the icing to the Passion fruit juice?
My favourite would be all butter shortbread. That’s my all-time comfort food, not too sweet and buttery when I feel like a little treat with a nice cuppa. Hope I can win the cookbook and try out some of those fabulous recipes you mentioned!
Looks like a great book for the baker and cookie maker!
My favourite biscuit to make is the Snickerdoodle. You can’t help but smile when making them and the cinnamon and sugar coating is like eating a hot cinnamon donut at home!
I love anything lemon so i’m sure those cakes taste great!
A fav biscuit, thats hard but i do love anzac biscuits and macadamia shortbread. I only eat the macadamia shortbread at christmas, don’t know why, maybe tradition.
I’d love to win this book. Biscuit & cake making is a cooking field where I could definately use some improvement!!!
My favourite buscuit…mmm, all said and done, it’d probably have to be the good old Anzac!
I love Bakewell tarts !!
My current favourite is an oat cookie with chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Dense and wholesome enough that I don’t feel bad feeding them to my toddler but with big chunks of chocolate so they’re a great treat for me too – YUM!
I love Cranberry and White Chocolate Biscuits by Bill Granger. They have oats in them which gives them a lovely chewy texture, punctuated with dried cranberry and sweet bursts of white chocolate. I have made lots of different versions, my favourite is probably dark chocolate and dried figs. The key is to only just cook them through to retain a soft chewy texture!
Find the recipe at:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/recipes/the-perfect-picnic/2006/10/16/1160850866373.html?page=fullpage
Your give-aways have me ready to pack a bag and move to Australia! I love this book, thanks to your review.
yum! I have to make these cakes for when my gluten free friend comes round in a couple of weeks. She will be so pleased to have something yummy she can eat without have to have “special” food.
As for my favourite cookie – it would have to be the choc chip cookies that I make (I think its a Bill Granger recipe). They are so good, nice and soft and chewy with the perfect amount of choc chips and made with brown sugar. My favourite part of making them is “testing” that the brown sugar and butter has creamed properly. Needs a couple of taste tests to get right! I love brown sugar!
Oh and another great thing about these cookies is that everyone loves them… and I get requests to make them for events.
Ooohhh…that is very dangerous information for a cookbook addict like me Lorraine…thanks (said ironically)!
I am going to have to make these…maybe even tonight. My kids love them and I have all the ingredients at home.
As for my favourite – can’t beat a good chocolate chip biscuit I think, particularly when they are still warm from the oven so the chocolate is still oozy!
My Favourite cookie -
Pepperidge Farm Snickerdoodles – i bought these while in the US and are so soft and cinnamon-y.
yes, they may be bad for you, but it had the right texture and flavour. You can’t beat cinammon! As Seinfeld said “Cinnamon takes a back seat to no Bobka!”
just plain old choc chip cookies…i have the best recipe. soft centred but with that crispy touch on the outside. YUM!!
Oohhh that pic of the chocolate crunch bar looks absolutely yummy.
My fav biscuit are chocolate wafers. The best are from a shop in my hometown where they come in huge biscuit tins and you can buy them by the grams.
The wafers are super thin and coated in chocolate with chocolate cream in between each wafer as well. When I was young (actually I still do it) I liked to separate each wafer, lick the chocolate cream and let the wafer dissolve on my tongue.
I love their lemon polenta cakes – so glad to have the recipe – they do an amazing pineapple and marigold cake in the same style.
I’ve always loved plain biscuits so I was delighted to discover the Anzac cookie when I moved to Australia – I can never resist them! I think any cafe that doesn’t sell them is un-Australian!!
Oh, those lemon polenta cakes look delicious! I love anything sweet with lemon, nothing beats the tanginess!
I love Snickers Cookies. The texture is crunchy where the nuts are and chewy where the caramel bits are! They are simply delicious; I’m nutty about them!
Orange Poppyseed biscuits are my favourite, as I love the orange flavour, and the addition of poppy seeds turns these babies gourmet!
Favourite biscuits from recipes that I made are my Peanut Butter Cookies and my Chocolate chip cookies using real dark chocolate (both Donna Hay recipes). They did go down a storm.
But my favourite biscuits have to be from Buppa’s Bakehouse on King Street South Newtown. They are truly the best.
PS: Your Polenta cakes look divine.
Oh I can hardly wait to try this recipe mmmm love anything lemmonyyy!!!!
Thank you for the opportunity to win this gorgeous cookbook
!
My absolute favourite is my great aunt Eunice’s cornflake cookies they are devine, I love them because they are really buttery, have dark chocolate chunks, chewy sultanas and crunchy cornflakes, they are heavenly!! I only wish I cookies were good for you so I could eat more of them
Oh my goodness, the Chocolate Crunch by Manna from Heaven has to be my favourite biscuit EVER! I still remember the first day I ever tried it. I was 17 and had just started my first job as a waitress in a fancy cafe that sold all the Manna from Heaven cakes and biscuits. It was one of those hot 30 degree days and some of the Chocolate Crunch biscuits has broken while being delivered to us. So naturally, we had to eat the broken bits because they couldn’t be sold. And WOW it was oh-so chocolate-y without being too rich, and it had those beautiful biscuit pieces in the centre to give the crunch factor. Because it was such a hot day, they were slightly gooey too, in a good way =) Actually when eating them now, 5 years on, I still think the gooey half-melted version may be better…maybe I should leave them out int he sun before eating hmm.
I have put Manna from Heavens cook on my Christmas wish list. But I might have to get it before, so I can make some of the goodies for Christmas presents too.
I love biscuits, I love them crunchy and I love them soft. I love the smell on them cooking in the oven. Plus, eating them when they are just a little too hot.
My favourite at the moment is white chocolate and orange.
We have 2 orange trees out the back (as well as a lemon tree, mandarin tree, mulberry tree, apple tree, plum tree, passionfruit vine and 2 grape vines!) so I am always trying to create something with the home grown produce. Something about the white chocolate and fresh oranges just works.
Lemon + polenta = a dessert made in heaven!
#1 biscuit is a soft-chewy white chocolate and macadamia biscuit -such a perfect combo. I’ve been known to frequent particular cafes based on the quality of these delightful goodies. Still looking for THE recipe to replicate at home… I’ve tried a few but no luck yet!
It’s all in the first bite: crisp yet crumbly, fleetingly light. The butter (of course, what else could there be) turns the corners of your mouth into a smile, while your fingers brush away the lingering traces of icing sugar. Only butter, flour and sugar are necessary.
My favourite? The Christmas shortbread stars my Mum and I have made in the hundreds each year. There is a cosiness making something you no longer need the recipe for, something people look forward to receiving. The biscuits taste of tradition.
What gorgeous little cakes, thanks for sharing this recipe, I may very well use it
My favourites are cornflake cookies. My grandchildren just love them and therefore it gives me great pleasure to bake them.
This looks like a wonderful cookbook
Hi Lorraine,
The Polenta cakes look charming.
A good tip regarding the baking paper squares to prevent sticking. My favourite biscuit is the snickerdoodles recipe I found on “Cakes in the City” blog. They are fragrant and crunchy just how I like them.
I LOVE LOVE the brandy snaps from Cookie Man!
The book looks cool – I love the simplicity and the wacky names =)
You really are like a fairy godmother Lorraine! So many giveaways, so many chances to win. Love these odds! And love these cakes too, we have them at the local cafe and the kids can’t get enough of them, would be great to make my own.
Oh ps – my favourite cookie is Cantucci
i just saw an awesome polenta terrine and i thought it might be the best use for polenta ever, but now i’m not so sure. these look outstanding, and so cute and eater-friendly.
What a coincidence NQN, I’ve been itching to make lemon polenta cakes for the past few days, saw the Manna recipe on the internet but was too afraid to emulate a cafe classic successfully, but then… voila! you did them! Made my evening it did. Now, feeling braver, I’m going to try them for a bbq this friday, it seems like a great summer treat.
As for the competition, my favourite biscuit is this peruvian wafer-like biscuit called Charlie Chaplin, which you couldn’t get at the shops but only through street vendors. They have a crunchy texture and a subtle sugar taste (you can probably eat a whole packet of 20). They are my favourite because they remind me of my grandmother who always bought them for me as a kid. I actually hadn’t thought of them for a long time…
I am also lemon fiend. Now I have good excuse to go out and get a food scale so I can make these sooner than later.
Got to put in down a my Chrissie wish list if I’m not a winner
Ange
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I love everything lemon!
My favourite biscuit, however, is Spekulatius – a traditional German spiced Christmas cookie.
I love anything lemon but haven’t had the pleasure of a lemon polenta cake. Yours are so beautiful with the pretty sugar flowers. xoxo Mum
These are so so pretty! And they sound fantastic with lemon flavor, yum!
These are such pretty little cakes! I think I’d want them to last at least 2 or 3 bites also! Another great giveaway!
I like the little cake with the pink rose on top.
Since I guess I won’t be traveling first class on Qantas any time soon, I better check out the book. I like the look of that raspberry coconut ice.
Florentines mmmm….
Oh I love the look of these cupcakes, perfect for me as I am a coeliac. My favourite cookie is store bought – Byron Bay Triple Choc Chunk Gluten Free Cookie. Its my fav as its gluten free and choc chip. Making gluten free cookies is a bit of a challenge but the Byron Bay folk have got it in one.
Thanks so much for the chance to win and for sharing the recipe
I’ve never heard of polenta lemon cakes, but I’m eager to try them!
Hi NQN
I made these for my boyfriend last night & they were incredible! Still hot with a little coconut sprinkled over the icing & some fresh cherries – PERFECT
Thanks for all the yummy inspiration!
I’m going to whip up the lemon polenta cakes for my Mum’s birthday – I know they’ll be an absolute hit because Mum loves lemon and at 84 has developed a gluten intolerance. Like Paula, when I started reading the blog I thought “this is what I want for Christmas”, by the end I’ve realised the sooner the better as I can make presents from it! Thanks Lorraine.
My favourite all time biscuit is a Peanut Butter cookie, made with peanut butter of course but with grated lemon rind through it which lifts it with the touch of tang. The kids love helping me make them, but for some reason when they’re helping I never get the same amount as when I’m making them on my own!!! Part of developing the love of cooking
I’ve never cooked with Polenta before, now I am inspired! Yummo!
Wow, those look amazing! It almost makes me doubt you though to consider that you like chicken chips though, haha !
I must admit however that I’ve not seen lemon cakes so often in the Cafe’s of Melbourne, perhaps it’s a Sydney thing.
In preparing food with celiac guests in mind I find it’s often hard to keep others entertained; this recipe will certainly make an appearance!
Thanks, and keep up with the good work. I’ve been reading your blog for a while – it’s been great to have a perspective from outside melbourne
Cheers
Michael
Best biscuit in the whole wide world – afghans! (Yes, I’m a kiwi). Who can resist the dark crumbly cookie with a smooth dark chocolate icing? What a way to use up neglected cornflakes.
Those. Are. ADORABLE.
I love my Mum’s cornflake cookies with choc chips and sultanas, reminds me of being a kid and very easy to make too.
Peanut Butter Choc-Chip cookies are my favourite. The combination of peanut butter and chocolate in anything is hard to beat!
I love the treats from Manna…always buy them in the market!!!!
My favorite cookies is Martha Stewarts oatmeal raisin cookies…
They taste so good, moist and you are left with the feeling of healthy (even though the amount of butter used says otherwise).
My favourite cookie would have to be peanut butter cookies, made with just peanut butter, sugar, and an egg. So rich, so peanut butter-y – yum!
Oh Lorraine, this book is certainly Manna From Heaven in every way. Yes making the bowl of chips last forever..I have one here that does it while I cringe! What yum little cupcakes. Pls choose me…pretty please! Does an Australian address work? xo
I’ve never heard of Manna from Heaven. Great post. My favorite cookie is plain ol Oatmeal Cookies, however my mom’s recipe. My favorite because it brings back great childhood memories with my mom in the kitchen.
That was a good review. Yes the pics were rather blurry from where I am, but the choc thingy looked very good! as those lemon polentas too!
Why is it that I can smell lemon and that wonderful warm corn smell when I look at these pictures? Again I am driven to my kitchen to bake – thank heavens for my family otherwise I would weigh a ton!
You can’t go past a chocolate chip cookie. The perfect one is so elusive and everyone seems to have their own special recipe. A good cookie is divine, and a bad one sends you searching for a new recipe to try ASAP!
Hmmz,,the chocolat,hazelnuit,raspberry and passionfruit looks amazing! so pretty and delicious,,,lookks great for Christmas too!
My favourite cookie recipe is “biscuits for the masses” because they are nice and sweet, while being buttery and packed full of chocolate. My 4 children love to make them with Mummy, and that’s what it’s all about, passing on the passion for cooking to the children and having fun together.
xxx
I love love love looking at food porn. In fact, I have just spent my entire weekend in my local bookshop perusing the cookbook aisle (as research for Christmas presents of course.)
My favourite biscuit is definitely Stefano Manfredi’s Ginger Biscotti. They are oh so buttery and soft and remind me of the holiday season. Yum!
Looking forward to making these yummy Lemon Polenta Cakes for my gluten intolerant boyfriend!
Oooh I do love polenta and I love lemon too (big citrus fiend here also!).
Would be nice to win that book! I haven’t heard of the author but you learn something new every day huh. Yay!
I have so many different favourite cookies, I go through phases, and my current phase is Byron Bay Cookie Company’s Dark Chocolate Cherry.
But I can NEVER say no to a white chocolate chunck macadamia cookie. Absolute bliss.
I’m obviously missing something very important here..never tried any of these cakes/bickies, never even tried anything zumbo..I need re-educating obviously! HELP ME!!!
Your recipes are always delectable and polenta is such a delicious staple – thank you!
My husband…yes husband, makes the most delicious Semolina & Tahini biscuits, with a tart jam filling. God Bless his late mother for teaching him how to make these delicious bikkies.
My never fail cookies are to die for, making every woman putty in my hands for them. They’re a cross between an anzac biscuit & a florentine. Very very morish.
ooohhhhh yummy
a bit harsh Nigella, But true the pics will sell a cookbook
Shortbread. The way the melt in your mouth and go with anything (tea, coffee, hot choc). Nobody can resist when you present them on the table!
I find a lot of cookies, well, i’ll just come out and say it: boring! I need a cookie with a lot going on, so give me a triple chocolate macadamia cookie any day. Still warm from the oven and slightly chewy – that’s cookie heaven for me!
My mother in law gave me a HUGE bag of lemons and I’ve been searching for recipes to use them all up. Those lemon polenta cakes look divine – I am heading out to buy the ingredients tomorrow (have everything but the polenta)!
My favourite biscuit is called a lemon poppy seed swirl (notice yet another recipe involving lemons!!). Simple to make, quick to bake and have a delicious zing with each and every bite. Yum!
Macarons obviously count as biscuits just because they are so good. Then it’s just a toss up, Herme’s Chocolate and Foie Gras (just for the shock value) or the vibrant, amazing Raspberry. How about both as joint favourites?
my favourite cookie recipe is the one I made in Home Science back in the 90s..it was a chocolate fudge muesli cookie with chocolate icing. Best ever.
Grandma’s Anzacs – they were a flavour I didn’t find in anything else (except perhaps when I had golden syrup on porridge as a kid!) and were so wonderfully chewy! I must track down the recipe and see if I can revive the tradition.
Favourite biscuit? Easily the choc-coconut slice my husband makes for the school lunchboxes. It tastes and smells like my childhood, and reminds me of every plate of food I took to girl guides, or youth group parties. I can picture it so easily, and just about taste it as I talk about it.
Mmmm, biscuits are a bit of a weakness for me. I love a biscuit both crunchy and chewy, a little bit spicy with cinnamon, ginger or cloves. If I have to pick just one, it would be my oaty, cinnamon and chocolate biscuits. I make them for the kids’ lunchboxes but end up eating too many of them myself – they even taste fabulous straight from the freezer…..as do brownies.
Can I have a top 3? Haha
In no particular order, my favourites are the chewy chocolate choc chip biscuits you get from Subway (I’d love to know how they get that texture so I could experiment at home!), chewy chocolate chunk cookies (a recipe I have scribbled on a scrap of paper stuck in a notebook, so not sure where it came from originally), and my family’s recipe for shortbread (very easy, only four ingredients and some smooshing with hands, but it melts in the mouth).
Seasons Greetings All.
Love Tim Tams and loved the Genie ad…never ending tim tams
yummm…now hears a thought if I had that Genie I could have endless tim tams and this wonderful book as well.Yeah bring him on.
Rachel’s Chocolate Crunch was my favourite from the start – it took me way back to the 50′s or somewhere – such a luxurious taste, a proper treat. Nothing else quite like it. And look where it’s taken her!
Well done Rachel and thanks for the recipes too. Now off to make the Lemon Polenta cake – an even better version in your new book! Hurrah!
My all time faves are “cheesies” my grandma’s recipe which has equal amounts of butter and cheese and flour, very very delicious!!!
My favourite biscuit is a rich buttery lemon shortbread. The flavour transports me to my Grandmother’s kitchen, reminding me of her love and patience through my childhood.
My favourite biscuit is a chocolate Monte – the dark chocolate, the crunch and the rough edge of the biscuit.
Lovely book – I’ve seen it at their stall at Everleigh Markets.
home made choc’ peanut butter cookies, they are an indulgence and remind me of happy, sticky fingered childhood moments.
Love the Lemon Polenta cakes. Just divine!! Im a lemon fan so these really hit the spot.
I’m moving interstate & will be able to bake for my new neighbours some scrummy yummy recipes
OOOHHH wow, I can taste these little nibbles already, and I am so insync with you NQN I love to savour each crumb as well.
To be honest, I think that this book would be perfect for my daughter, and who knows she may bake extra for Grandma
Triple choc-chip fudge cookies – mouthwateringly decadent – not a crumb is spared.
I love the humble melting moment – buttery, sugary, melting goodness.
MMMMM What a decadent cookbook, I can feel the calories piling on just thinking about it.
Most of my favourite biscuits are faily plain such as homecooked ANZACs and plain sugar biscuits.
However, I do love a really good Vanilla Slice, and they are very hard to come by and so one must cook them at home
As I live in Indonesia, we used to cook using Wisjman Butter (preservered Dutch Butter) and a bit addition of Edam cheese (optional) for this cookies called Cat Tongue (literally, as it look like a cat tongue).
The butter made the cookies so smooth in texture (it does melted on mouth) and tasted better than if using a fresh butter.
I found this butter sold in Asian grocery store and hope I can make it again next year after come back from my holiday (if I’m not succumbed into these homemade cookies during my holiday and got bored).
Oops, seem I use wrong description above. It should be as I used to live in Indonesia. I live in Sydney now. Sorry for this late correction.
I think these would make a lovely 1st birthday cake for my daughter! Beautiful and gluten free! I might substitute the caster sugar for some fruit juice concentrate. YUM!!!!
My mums ANZAC bicuits just out of the oven. Chewy and sweet, I have never tried to make the as I could ruin the illusion of my mums baking mastery. Another good reason to visit anyways, cooking with mum.
Those lemon polenta cakes look just divine! Your photos are so delicious that I can smell them. I seriously doubt whether I would get any cakes out of this as the batter looks yummy too!
A favourite biscuit from my childhood were made with cornflakes and chocolate drops. I think we use to call them choc rocks. I do know that the recipe came from the tome of culinary brilliance that is otherwise known as….the cornflakes box!
My famous ANZAC Biscuits are a real hit with our family and friends and nothing less than a double batch is worth making. It’s quite a challenge though as they all like them cooked differently!!! My sons love them practically straight from the oven, hot and they must be chewy. My Hubby loves them firm on the outside but chewy on the inside and always devoured with a glass of cold milk and I prefer them rock hard. My husband takes them on his overseas trips for midnight snacks, occassionally parting with one for a good friend. Always happy to share the recipe but BEWARE they are addictive
Beautiful lokking cakes – makes your mouth water. Lovely to win this cookbook!
My favorite biscuits are Anzac biscuits because the always make me stop and think of those that lost their lives for Australia
I’ve adored the Lemon Polenta Cakes for years, and have tried various recipes from mags to try to replicate them, unsuccessfully. Thanks for the recipe!
My favourite biscuit is Ginger Crunch, a ginger-flavoured almost-shortbread with a thin coating of buttery ginger icing.
Beautifully photographed and mouth watering!
I saw this book at the shops today and flicked through it. WOW! I’m all inspired to whip up something! Good thing my little boy turns 2 on Friday and I have an excuse to cook goodies! Will be adding the book to my chistmas wishlist.
My mum use to make sugar biscuits which were really nice. Just a standard biscuit recipe, sprinkled with sugar and flattened slightly with a fork.
The lemon fiends in my house would complain at the size of those beautiful lemon polenta cakes….their not even bite size for my lot!
Our favourite biscuits are my tried and tested earthquake biscuits. A rich chocolate biscuit dipped in icing sugar before cooking. The finished product is covered in cracks like it has been through an earthquake.
White Choc and Macadamia, YUM!
The Passion fruit Melting Moments is my favourite because my mum makes them and they are so delicious!
my homemade chocolate chip cookies – there smooth, moist, delicious, full of chocolate chunks and taste scrumptious when eaten warm straight from the oven
My Mum’s! Chocolate Chip Cornflake Cookie! Isn’t it always your Mum’s! I like it because it is not to rich or heavy and you can whip it up out of the ingredients from the cupboard!
It only uses one bowl and and the cookie trays so it is quick and simple, and any kid will eat it!
Anzac biscuits (before they are cooked) YUM!
my fave biscuit was something i created at school which consisted of coconut and chocolate drops throughout and then covered with chocolate again, think i called them choc coco bombs from memory, a blast from the past, hmmm will have to try and find that recipe.
My favourite would have to be,
a little family recipe,
Choc chip hazelnut cookies is the name,
Store bought ones aren’t the same,
Manna recipes also look yummy,
So can I have one book for me?
Pretty pretty please
Thanks for not only reviewing but also sharing a recipe from the book. I love simplistic cooking that delivers lasting memories. And in saying that my fav biscuit (as sad as it is going to sound) is Arnotts Malt O Milk – I don’t know why but I still love having that cold glass of milk and dunking them in. I also dunk them into my coffee.
Hi I made these lemon polenta cakes with mandarin but despite following the recipe and lining the mini muffin tins with greaseproof they stuck and I ended up with yummy crumbs!
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