Fat Free – Corn and Polenta Butter

One thing that my children do not want to give up is butter. I used vegan butters, but they do have oils, so they are not very halthy. And they eat butter sandwiches every day. Yes just plain butter sandwiches.

I tried to replace it with hummus, but they did not like it. My son says it tastes like tuna, and he is right. I love hummus but he does not.

 

My daughter does not like anything I prepare, so I did not even try to put hummus in her sandwich.

So when I heard that Dr McDougall had a recipe for corn butter, I googled it and I decided to try it.

The recipe called for cornmeal. Since I am not in the USA, I was not sure exactly what the difference is between cornmeal and cornflour. Apparently cornmeal is yellow. Cornflour is white. Cornmeal is made grinding corn kernels.

So I decided to try the butter with cornflour and with polenta. So I did two  batches, one with cornflour and the other one with polenta.

They were both delicious. I liked them. I never ate butter before on my bread. I used to eat plain sandwiches without butter, because I wanted to avoid the extra calories. But I liked this butter and it does not have any fat.

 

My son loved it. But he still continues eating normal butter. My daughter did not want to try it.

So I tricked them. I normally ask them to prepare their sandwiches. They are old enough to butter some bread (though my daughter puts a thick layer of butter in her sandwich). This time I said I was going to prepare the sandwiches. I used normal butter on one slice of bread and my corn or polenta butter on the other slice of bread.

 

I said nothing to them. My son asked me later if the sandwiches had something different. He realized I had used the corn butter. but he did not mind. My daughter said nothing. I asked her if the sandwiches were good and she said yes.

I figured out that with time I will end up replacing the normal butter with my butter. I kept an empty butter container to keep my healthy butter in and trick my daughter. It does not look the same, so not sure she would believe it.

Well we have half a container of butter to finish and I hope I can then replace it completely with the corn or polenta butter.

Now, which one I like best? They taste basically the same, but if I had to pick one, I would choose the polenta. I cannot say why. It had a better consistency When I was preparing it. I think the water was too much for the corn butter. It seem like very liquid and transparent. I thought I would not get it right. I added a tiny spoon of the polenta mix to the corn mix before putting it in the blender.

I am not sure if that was the reason why it turn out good. After being in the fridge for a couple of hours the butter was thicker.

This is something I want to continue doing for my children. I think what my children would miss is that fat content. That is the reason my daughter does not like my cakes.

 

Corn Flour and Polenta Butter

 

The recipe was in the  Dr McDougall newsletter- October 2006

1/2  cup cornflour or polenta. (the original recipe says cornmeal)

1 1/4 cups of water

1 to 2 tsp of lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt (I used salt herbs. )

 

Place the cornflour or polenta in a pan with 1 cup of water. Cook until mixture is thick and smooth. Stir continuously to avoid lumps. Pour mixture in food processor or blender. I used a blender. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of water and 1 tsp of lemon and the salt. Blend or process until it reaches a smooth consistency. If you need to add more water you can. Taste, and if you prefer add another teaspoon of lemon juice. Store in a container and refrigerate. It should thicken once it has been in the fridge.

 

What do you use instead of butter?