Brown Spiced Cookies

Brown Spiced Cookies

Recipe by Annette Oevermann

Yields 150-190 cookies

Brown Spiced Cookies have been a staple of my Northern German family’s Christmas holiday tradition for generations. And there has always been a competition among the various family households around who made the thinnest, most crispy and most balanced ones spice wise. Growing up, my sisters and I used to help my mother bake them each year while she taught us to sing Christmas carols and rounds. Those days are among my favorite holiday memories.

INGREDIENTS

250 grams Butter

125 grams Lard

160 grams dark sugar beet syrup (available at Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats and Wurst-Haus in Los Altos)

250 grams sugar

100 grams almonds, blanched and peeled

50 grams each citronat succade (candied lemon peel) and orangeade (candied orange peel)

3-6 teaspoons (to taste) ground cloves

6 teaspoons cinnamon

1 or more teaspoons (to taste) Ground cardamon

Finely ground zest of one lemon (optional)

10 grams potassium bicarbonate (dissolved in boiling water)

DIRECTIONS

Combine fat, sugar and syrup in a stockpot and bring to a boil, pull from heat and let cool down to warm.

Chop peeled almonds, succade and orangeade and add to the sugar-fat mixture together with the spices and dissolved potassium bicarbonate. Mix in the flour and knead everything thoroughly into a smooth soft dough.

Let the dough sit in a cool place for 24 hours minimum.

When ready to bake your cookies, preheat the oven to 175°C/347°F degrees.

The dough may be hard. It might be easiest to cut off pieces with a knife and warm the dough kneading it in portions.

Roll a portion of dough out very thinly and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.

Place cookies on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and bake for 7-12 minutes depending on how thick your cookies are.

Store in an air tight container. Enjoy!