Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Tenebrownies…mealworm brownies! / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Tenebrownie, o anche i brownie alle larve tenebrio

What could possibly happen when a friend offers you mealworms to taste? This is what happened two me a couple of weeks ago. I went over to the Mill for my usual flour collecting trip and found Alessandro holding a box of dried mealworms and a big grin on his face. Taste, he said. And taste I did indeed. Of course he commissioned me a recipe for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook. How cool is it to work with him???? That’s how my Tenebrownies were born. But if dried worms make you feel queasy you can bake these delicious brownies with any kind of nut or ingredient that please your palate. They are simply divine. Crunchy on the outside and extremely chewy inside. You definitely have to try them! And what about the mealworms, what do they taste like? Well, I must say I was amazed…they have a distinctive aftertaste of hazelnut!!!! In this case the flavour is very attenuated by the high content of chocolate and cocoa in the brownies but the larvae give a very special crunchiness that I have never felt in any other food, which I really liked. The proof is in the pudding!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Polenta dorata, Lemon, Thyme and Polenta biscuits / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Biscotti al limone, timo e polenta dorata

We’re back with Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook and I present you with my the second recipe with polenta flour.

This time around with a sweet recipe for cookies which are perfect to be dunked in tea. I took inspiration from my recipe for sablés and adapted it to the use of corn meal, combined with dried thyme and lemon zest. This blend make these cookies particularly fresh and tasty, but already I am thinking how gorgeous they would be with the addition of dark chocolate chips and toffee cubes. A basic dough with which you can play and have fun inventing new flavours! Polenta flour and raw cane sugar add a nice rough texture to these cookies, which were very much appreciated by my guinea pigs.

Fridge emptying skills: Satsumaimo pan japanese sweet potato bread rolls / Abilità svuotafrigo: Satsumaimo pan o anche panini giapponesi alla patata dolce

Lately my fridge-emptying skills have been quite bad. Unable of resisting the impulse of filling it up with all sorts of fruit and vegetables I plan to cook or bake with. But then I get lost, too much blogging around, recipe searching, the occasional invite for lunch or dinner, late dinners that get resolved with a quick pasta or simple bread and cheese. Fruits and vegetables lying in the bottom drawer of the fridge, to be found just in time before they’re due to be thrown away.