Brussels Cookies Food

BRUSSELS COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat together butter, sugar, and orange zest with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, then egg whites, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 3 minutes. Stir in flour mixture, then nuts and oats.
• Transfer mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip. Pipe into seventy two 2-inch-long fingers, spacing them 3 inches apart, on baking sheets lined with nonstick baking mats or parchment. Bake until lightly golden with darker edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks with a metal spatula, and let cool completely.
• Melt chocolate, stirring, in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Spread 1 teaspoon chocolate each onto flat side of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing gently.

BRUSSELS COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF and lightly grease baking sheets.
• Have ready pastry bag fitted with 1/2 inch tip.
• Sift flour, baking soda and cream of tarter together, set aside.
• Using mixer on medium speed, cream butter, sugar, extracts, and orange zest until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
• Add egg whites and beat on medium high until blended, about 1 minute, scraping bowl well.
• Add flour and mix by hand until blended, then stir in almonds and oats, blending well.
• Fill pastry bag with batter and pipe 2 inch long fingers or 2 inch round circles 3 inches apart on baking sheets.
• Bake until lightly golden with darker golden edges, about 12 minutes.
• Using spatula, immediately transfer to wire racks to cool.
• When cookies are cooled, melt chocolates together.
• Turn half of cookies upside down and spread small thin layer of chocolate over each bottom half.
• Immediately place remaining cookies on top, pressing down gently.
• Refrigerate 1 hour to set.
• Store airtight for up to 2 weeks in freezer.
• Makes about 24 cookie sandwiches.

BELGIAN IRON COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, salt, and liquor (if desired). Blend in.
• Now it gets to be fun. You have to work in all five pounds of flour little by little by hand. It will work in but it takes a while. You'll wind up with a BIG mixing bowl of dough.
• Refrigerate dough overnight.
• Have plenty of people to help with the cooking. Lightly grease and heat the empty cookie iron over a gas burner. Start with a tablespoon and a half of dough rolled into a little "cigar" shape and vary amount to fit the size of your cookie iron. It takes from one to one and a half minutes to cook each cookie - it's a trial and error process at first till you get a handle on the temperature of the gas burner and the heat retaining capabilities of your iron. A properly cooked cookie will be golden and after cooled, crisp.
• This a family holiday tradition for us and we spend a whole day cooking cookies with lots of testing to make sure they're as good as last year's. The cast iron cookie irons work best, but I have seen people make them with the aluminum pizelle "irons". Ask for a krumkokie (croom cockie) iron at a gourmet cooking shop. We put them in tins and store till next Christmas, eating last year's cookies.

BRYSELL COOKIES

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Stir in the flour and vanilla. Roll dough into two logs about 10 inches long. Roll dough logs in finely chopped nuts so that the whole surface is coated. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for up to two hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slice dough logs into 1/4 inch thick slices and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 7 to 9 minutes.

SPECULOOS (BELGIAN SPICE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Sift together flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
• In the work bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.
• Add dry ingredients to mixer, a few spoonfuls at a time, mixing on low speed until combined.
• Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 60 minutes.
• Place dough on Silpat or parchment. Roll dough out to about 1/4" thickness - about the size of the Silpat. Use bench flour as necessary to prevent sticking. Transfer Silpat to a cookie sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Cut into 3x2" rectangles with a pizza wheel.
• Transfer Silpat to a cooling rack until room temperature. Store in a tightly sealed container.