Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

I made these cookies quite some time ago and even managed to post about it. Unfortunately I had an argument with my computer almost right after posting and I somehow deleted the post without any back-up in existence...

I planned on posting it again but for some reason forgot about it... until now!

These cookies are very nice. Soft and flavourful and very girlie. They are so very easy to make and contain ingredients most people always have on hand! One warning though....if you follow the recipe you end up with really big cookies...I mean BIG cookies. For most of you that is not a problem, but if it is... just make the cookies smaller!

Recipe

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

Yield: about 2 dozen large cookies

Ingredients:

For the cookies:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
5 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the frosting:
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
7-8 tablespoons milk (plus more, as needed)
Optional: food colouring and sprinkles

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F) and line baking sheet(s) with silicone mats or parchment paper.

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

In a mixer cream together the sugar and butter on medium-high speed until soft and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and blend.

Turn the speed of the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients mixing just until the flour is incorporated. Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

To make large cookies scoop a scant quarter cup of dough and roll it into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly with the palm of your hand and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, leaving the cookies about 2-3 inches apart.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or just until set. Be careful not to over bake the cookies. You want the edges a very lightly browned at best, if browned at all.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting sift the confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl. Add the butter, vanilla and milk and whisk until everything is smooth. It might be necessary to add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, to reach the consistency you want.

Colour the frosting with food colouring if you want to.

Use a knife or offset spatula to frost the cookies. Add some sprinkles and you're done!

Store the cookies in an airtight container

 
Source: Annie's Eats

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies

Are you drooling yet? I know I was the moment I laid eyes on these beauties! Of course I am a big chocolate lover. But if you are too, I can definitely recommend these cookies. They are easy to make but pack a big chocolate flavour, not to mention all the chunks of chocolate and Oreos. Who wouldn't love these cookies?

I was afraid the recipe would give me way too much cookies, so I decided to make half the recipe. What was I thinking?! They were gone way too soon and I felt really stupid for not just making a whole batch. Next time I will definitely make more, much more! And I think I'll make these again really soon...and by soon I mean I think I have to go make some right now.....

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies

Recipe

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies

Yield: about 3-4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar, granulated
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped white chocolate
1 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup chopped Oreo cookies

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 190˚C (375˚F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a medium bowl and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugars with a mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla extract and mix until blended.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until the flour disappears. Stir in the chopped chocolates and Oreos. This works best if you do it by hand.

Drop tablespoons of cookie dough onto the baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between the cookies.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes in the oven. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a rack to cool completely.

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies

Source: Two Peas and their Pod

Coffee Chocolate Macarons

I know, I know, everybody has been posting about macarons. I know that it isn't very original to post about it. But I don't care. I love macarons. I really do. So I don't care what you think about this post. Okay, I admit I really do care about what you think, but you gotta cut me some slack. I love macarons and so I am going to write about them.

This is my first time ever making macarons and to tell you the truth....I was scared. Really scared. This summer, while eating my way through France, I bought a beautiful book about macarons. I read the entire book (well, the words I could understand.... my French isn't very good). I read some more on the internet. And then I read some more on the internet. I just love Google!

Every time I thought about making macarons I found an excuse not to make them. But I finally gathered all my courage and just jumped. And you know what? I was pleasantly surprised. The actual making isn't very difficult, it's just a tricky batter that makes it difficult. Let me put your mind at ease. They weren't perfect.

I overmixed the meringue and I overmixed the batter (hmmm.... am I detecting a patron? Surely not?). When I was baking the cookies I had to let them in the oven for a lot longer. When the cookies had cooled off they were a bit chewy and tough.... not exactly the result I was going for. And of course they didn't have the pretty feet you expect in a good macaron. But despite that they still tasted good, so I decided to finish them with a ganache. No surprises there.

The big surprise came actually the next day. For some mysterious reason the cookies were absolutely perfect the next day. The texture had changed from chewy and tough into crunchy on the outside, but soft and light on the inside. How is that possible? Maybe it had something to do with the ganache? I have absolutely no idea, but I also don't really care.

So all in all I am very pleased with the end result and can't wait to make more macarons. (what? More macarons? Yes, more macarons. Don't hate me for it...). Oh, and I can't really tell you how much macarons this recipe makes, because mine were a bit on the (really) big side. If you need a bit more info on macarons I can recommend the blog of Tartelette, the queen of macarons.

Recipe

Coffee Chocolate Macarons

Ingredients:

For the cookies:
90 grams egg whites (about 3, 1-2 days old, room temperature)
30 grams granulated sugar
200 grams confectioners' sugar
110 grams almonds
1 teaspoon espresso powder

For the filling:

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 teaspoons espresso powder

Instructions:

Line the baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Whip the egg whites into a foam in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.

Gradually add the sugar so the egg whites turn into a glossy meringue. Don't overbeat the meringue.

In a foodprocessor mix the almonds, confectioners' sugar and espresso powder until the almonds are very finely ground. If you want you can sift the mixture to make sure there are no big pieces left.

Add the almond mixture to the meringue.

Start with a quick mix in, then slow down. The batter should still be thick but should also be able to form a slight ribbon.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds onto the baking sheets.

Preheat the oven to 150˚C (300˚F).

Let the macarons sit on the counter for 30-60 minutes.

Bake the macarons for 15-20 minutes. Let cool.

Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan.

Put the chopped chocolate with the espresso powder in a bowl.

Pour the boiling heavy cream over the chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes.

After 2 minutes gently stir the mixture until all the chocolate has melted.

Let the ganache cool down until it is thick enough to pipe.

Pair the cookies to make sure they have the same size.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the ganache.

Pipe a big dot of ganache on one cookie and gently press the other cookie on the ganache. Make sure the ganache spreads evenly to all the sides.

 
 Source: adapted from Tartelette

Snickery Squares

Fall has only just started and already I have caught my first cold of the season. Great. So these past few days have mostly been spent resting. Luckily I'm already starting to feel much better. The fever is gone and I can breath much easier!

When I'm feeling sick I love eating some comfort food and comfort food for me is not chicken soup, but something with chocolate! I found a nice recipe that didn't require me to do too much work and which filled all my needs! You can easily cut this recipe into three parts, making it seem as if you barely have to do anything at all! I just love that in a recipe!

Recipe

Snickery Squares

Yield: 16 squares

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, cold, in small pieces
1 large egg yolk

For the filling:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 cup salted peanuts
3/4 - 1 cup dulce de leche

For the topping:
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 stick butter, room temperature, in 8 pieces

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

Start with making the crust. In a food processor combine the flour, sugar, confectioners' sugar and salt. Add the pieces of butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal.

Pour the egg yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds. Stop before the dough comes together in a ball.

Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan.

With a fork prick the dough all over.

Slide the pan with the sheet into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until it takes on just a little color around the edges.

Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool to room temperature before filling.

To make the filling line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Put the sugar and water in a thick-bottomed saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

Keep the heat fairly high and continue to cook until it just starts to color.

Add the peanuts and, with a long spoon, immediately start stirring to coat the peanuts.

The peanuts will turn white. Keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel and the nuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel.

Remove the pan from the heat and spread the nuts out onto the prepared baking sheet. Let cool to room temperature.

When the nuts are cool enough break them into pieces, making the nuts as loose as possible.

Stir 3/4 of the peanuts into the dulce de leche and spread this mixture over the crust.

Chop the rest of the peanuts finely.

To make the topping melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.

Remove the chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, until the butter is completely blended into the chocolate.

Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche. Smooth the top and sprinkle the finely chopped peanuts over it.

Put the pan into a refrigerator for 20 minutes. If you'd like to serve them cool, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours.

Cut into 16 squares.

Source: Slightly adapted from Baking, from my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan

Fun with Royal Icing

This weekend we had a birthday party and there were going to be several kids. So I offered to make some cookies. I had already made sugar cookies with royal icing ones and my fingers were itching to give it another try. The first time I kept it really simple, but now I upped the stakes a bit.

 

And I have to say... I was very pleased with the results. I made a lot more cookies then these pictures show, but didn't get a chance to really photograph them until after the party... hence there are only a few left. I made several kind of hearts, different butterflies, small cars and dinosaurs. I also made daisies, but all I could think about were eggs, sunnyside up... So daisies.... not so great. I'm gonna keep working on those!

I opted to make my life as easy as possible and made most cookies while still wet. I only gave the cars some details after the royal icing had set.

So I had a lot of fun this weekend and can't wait to try it again! I am definitely hooked!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

When Nikki was invited for a sleep-over party by her cousin she jumped up and down for about an hour! She was extremely excited. Her cousin, Phoebe, is two years her senior, but there is a real click with all three of the girls. Whenever they get together, they get really excited and love spending time together.

As a thank-you gift I wanted to bake something yummy for her to take along to her cousin and my sister. Unfortunately I had about two hours in which to make that thank-you gift and no time to go shop for ingredients.

And so I searched through my cabinets and assembled a variety of ingredients. I then turned to my new book: Baking, From my home to yours, and found a great easy recipe for Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, for which I had all the ingredients. I just love it when I find recipes that you can make with standard ingredients. It gives me the opportunity to whip something up on any given time!

I have to admit I had my doubts about these cookies. I have never baked with peanut butter, so I wasn't sure if it would taste good. But I am now converted. The peanut butter gives these cookies a full, rich flavour, which of course goes great with the oatmeal and the chocolate chips. I did add a little less than the recipe indicated, but it was enough. I only had smooth peanut butter, but chunky peanut butter, of even better, chopped peanuts would go great with these cookies. The cookies were crisp on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside. Just as I like them!

On more thing, the recipe said to chill the dough for two hours, which I didn't due to lack of time, but shaping the cookies went really well and they turned out very nicely shaped!

Recipe

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: about 60 cookies (recipe can be halved)

Ingredients:

3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) butter, room temperature
3/4 - 1 cup peanut butter (depends on your taste)
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks or 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix together the oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Beat together the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Add one egg at a time, beating for one minute after each addition.

Beat in the vanilla.

Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended.

Mix in the chocolate.

Cover and chill the dough for about 2 hours, or for up to one day (optional, for more evenly shaped cookies).

Drop rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the baking sheet, or, if the dough is chilled, scoop rounded tablespoons and roll the balls between the palms of your hands and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes.

The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Lift the cookies onto cooling racks with a wide metal spatula.


Source: slightly adapted from Baking, From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan

Sugar Cookies

My baby girls' intern-teacher left last week and instead of buying a present I thought I'd give decorated sugar cookies a go. Over the last few months I've seen several gorgeous decorated cookies and was extremely impressed with them. I've never worked with royal icing before so it was quite an adventure for me. I haven't made pictures of the end results, but I did get a lot of compliments.

I myself wasn't 100% satisfied. I made hearts with small sweet words written on top of them. I only used two colours, a very pale pink and a darker purple. The outlining went great, the flooding also went great, but the detailing was a bit tricky, I think it is definitely worth the time to practice, so I'll be looking for a new occasion to make these again.

But this is not a recipe for royal icing, this is about the cookies. Or should I say The Cookies. I found another great recipe over on Annie's Eats. I know, I know, I know.... I've been on a bit of an Annie-bender.... I can totally explain this. I recently went through her archives and marked a lot of recipes for my "to make" list, which I am now making. But back to The Cookies. They are very easy to make, hold their shape, have a nice texture and amazing flavour! Which is why I say The Cookies. The addition of lemon zest, vanilla extract and vanilla bean elevates these cookies from... well, cookies to Cookies. I had a hard time trying not to eat them.

So if you're looking for a great sugar cookie recipe: use this one. You will not regret it!

Recipe

Sugar Cookies

Yield: depends on size cookie cutter, I made about 60 small hearts

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 large egg
2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
Zest of half a lemon
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Cream together the butter and confectioners' sugar until smooth, about 1-2 minutes on medium-high speed.

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean with the back of a knife.

Add to the butter-mixture, the egg, vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds and lemon zest and beat until blended.

Mix in the flour and salt on low speed just until incorporated.

Form the dough into a disc and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours, until chilled and firm.

Preheat the oven to 190˚C (375˚F). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out the dough on a floured work surface, about 1/4-inch thick.

Cut the dough with cookie cutters. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until fully baked but not at all browned.

Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cookies are completely cooled you can decorate them as you want to.

World Peace Cookies

 

While browsing the Internet I came across the site of Dorie Greenspan. After clicking happily away on her site and reading different recipes I stumbled across a recipe for World Peace Cookies. 

The name alone made me decide on the spot that I had to try this recipe. I then actually read the recipe and decided that not only did I have to make this recipe, I had to make it IMMEDIATELY! It's a simple recipe with a lot of chocolate and you know I can't resist chocolate!

I urge you to try these cookies. Keep in mind that the dough has to rest in the refrigerator for 3 hours so making the dough ahead of time can be handy! I know 3 hours is a long time, I know that you want to eat these cookies straight away, but you really have to wait. I know you can do it.

 

Recipe

World Peace Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Add the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel.

Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly.

Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half.

Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

The cookies can be eaten when they are warm or at room temperature — I prefer them at room temperature, when the textural difference between the crumbly cookie and the chocolate bits is greatest — and are best suited to cold milk or hot coffee.

Packed airtight, cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Spicy molasses cookies

I just love food blogs. I have a bit of a cookbook addiction and combined with an unlimited supply of recipes at food blogs I can happily spend an entire day  just reading, drooling over and occasionally actually cooking the recipes I find on the internet. Yesterday I found a recipe for Spicy molasses cookies on the blog of The Pioneer Woman and I decided to try and recreate it. Oh and if you're not familiar with her blog. I sure can recommend it! She adds great play-by-play-photos with EACH recipe! Amazing. Check it out here.

The reason why I say try and recreate it, is because, as the name suggests, it contains molasses and molasses is a product unknown in The Netherlands. We do, however, have something resembling molasses, so I used that instead. Also, the recipe needs Crisco and that again is something unknown here. But I just used butter. You can never go wrong with butter!

And I have to say, the results was quite good. I think they could have been in the oven a little shorter. I had them in for 9 minutes (but with hot air circulation) and they were a little dark around the edges, but the taste had not been compromised! They are still delicious! They remind me of gingersnap.

Spicy molasses cookies

Recipe

Yield: 36

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup Crisco (or butter)

1/4 cup molasses (or something similar)

1 egg

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon salt

Extra sugar for coating

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 190°C (350°F).

Mix the sugar, shortening, molasses and egg together until well combined. 

Mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom and salt together, then add to the molasses-mixture and mix until it is well combined and a dough.

With your hands roll walnut-sized balls of the dough. Coat each ball with sugar (just roll it around in a small bowl with sugar). 

Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 9 minutes. Keep an eye on the cookies. You want the cookies to crack, but you don't want the cookies to brown!

Now stand back and be amazed by the fact that these might be the best looking cookies you ever made (at least that was the case with me).

Oatmeal raisin cookies

As promised yesterday I'm going to give you a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies. I know there are around 2.475 recipes (if not more) for oatmeal cookies. I know you probably already have a least a dozen recipes you like. Then why are you giving us another? you might ask.... Well, because these are probably the only cookies that my hubby actually likes. And he doesn't just like 'em.... He LOVES them. And that is a first because my hubby is definitely not a cookie-lover. I've tried out quite a few recipes over the years and he always said he liked them. But never before have I seen him react like he reacts to these cookies. Needless to say, the cookies never last long.... they don't stand a chance....

Recipe

Oatmeal raisin cookies

Yield: 36

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

120 gram all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup raisins

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).

Mix butter, sugars, egg and vanilla till it's well combined and fluffy.

In another bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the buttermixture en stir until just combined.

Add oatmeal and raisins and fold them through the mixture.

On a baking tray lined with parchment paper drop heaping teaspoons of dough and shape them a bit like cookies (no need to be very precise, they'll still taste good, makes 'em kinda rustic).

Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes 'till the edges are light golden brown.

Place them on a wire rack to cool. And try to keep others from eating them!

Oh, and this great recipe I found at Annie's Eats.

Tonight I'm gonna try out another one of her recipes: Hummingbird cupcakes. I'll post all about it as soon as possible.

Bruge lace cookies a.k.a. Kletskoppen

Yesterday was a bit of a boring Sunday, so my hubby decided that I could very well make Bruge lace cookies (we call them Kletskoppen). Having never made them before I set out on a quest of finding a recipe. First I turned to my trustworthy cookbooks... but alas! The recipe was not to be found. This was quite a shock. My ever growing collection over cookbooks (currently around 100) does not easily let me down.

When I had somewhat recovered I turned to Google and there I found a recipe. Unfortunately the times as told in the recipe was a bit too long, as I discovered when the first batch burnt..... Don't worry I figured it out in the end so the recipe that follows works very well (for me at least). Keep monitoring the cookies while baking, because they burn very quickly..

Oh and I had planned to take pictures but the cookies that turned out well were eaten before I even had a change to get the camera ready. So next time, hopefully....

Recipe

Bruge lace cookies a.k.a. Kletskoppen

Ingredients

25 gram butter or margarine

100 gram soft white sugar

50 gram all purpose flour

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon of cold water

40 gram almond slivers

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 225°C (425°F). Combine the butter and the sugar. Sift the flour, salt and cinnamon above and stir. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water and the almond slivers.

Roll small balls of the dough. Put them on the baking tray. Leave plenty of space in between, because the cookies become much larger. Flatten the little balls a little.

Put the baking tray just above the middle of your oven, but NOT completely at the top of the oven (trust me... I learned that the hard way....). Bake the cookies for about 5 minutes, but monitor closely. When the cookies have spread, started bubbling and are starting to color, turn off the oven and move the baking tray to the middle of the oven. Leave them there for another 3 minutes. When the cookies are nice color brown they are ready. Put the cookies on a wire rack to cool.

When the cookies are still warm you can try to shape them, but they can only be shaped for a very short time!

Tomorrow I'll give you a great recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies!