Author: story of a kitchen (unsure of source, but there are many recipes, though slightly different than this one, on the web if you search)
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 to 2¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups dark brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
¼ cup Port, Madeira, or sweet sherry
½ cup finely ground almonds (and almond halves for decoration - optional)
1 egg white + 2 teaspoons water, beaten to a froth
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in bowl and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and add ½ cup flour at a time, stirring well. Beat in wine and almonds.
Add dry flour mixture. Knead dough vigorously. Gather into compact ball. If the dough is too soft, add up to ¼ cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. (I did not need to add any extra flour to my dough.)
On a floured surface, roll dough ¼ inch thick. Cut into two-inch rounds. Arrange on baking sheet. Brush with egg white and water mixture.
Bake 15 minutes until crisp and firm to the touch. (Mine actually took 17 minutes to firm up, still slightly soft. When I baked longer, the cookies almost burned. With time, they crisped up after cooling.) Extra cookies make great mini ice-cream sandwiches (but allow cookies to sit in the freezer for a bit after assembly to soften the sandwich).
The original recipe also recommends that almond halves may also be reserved to press into the tops of cookies before baking.
Recipe by story of a kitchen at https://www.storyofakitchen.com/dessert-recipes/soetkoekies/