To celebrate the first blog anniversary of a friend from Veneto living in Spain, I came out of the lethargy imposed by a big event I catered, and make those Venetian cookies. Happy blog birthday Cannella!!!
I know: they are not rounded, so they are not strictly cookies, but neither are biscotti, because they are not cooked twice. So, what should we call them? Bakery goodies???
Anyway, let alone the rambling of a tired mind and body…
This recipe is an adaptation from Nigella’s Feast, but, sorry to tell you dear Nigella, with all my love, but if you call them Polenta biscuits in Italy NOBODY would buy them… Better cornmeal biscuits…

50 g of raisins
30 ml of rum
75 g of butter
150 g of semolina
75 g of flour
50 g of sugar
1 egg
Zest of 1 lemon

Soak the raisin in the rum overnight, or for a few days if you forget them on the sink as I did… They were still good!
Cut the butter in little dice and mix it with semolina and flour, add sugar, egg, lemon zest and the rum from the raisins. Mix until it is all well combined. By hand, add the raisins and make a bowl. Cover a baking sheet with greaseproof paper, place the bowl in the middle, cover it with film and push it to obtain a disc 1 cm high. Let it rest in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Preheat the oven at 180° C.
Take out the dough from the fridge and divide it in 16 (or so) part, roll the out in little cigars, place them on the baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes or until golden.
Serve warm or cold the morning after, with a good cup of coffee.

Enjoy!