Recipe: Soetkoekies (Spice and Wine Cookies)

the appetizer:

South African cuisine has changed from indigenous dependence on wild game, cattle and gathering of foods from the wild, to farming, and cooking styles brought by colonists from Netherlands, Germany France and Britain, as well as immigrants from India. Traditional "Cape Dutch" cookery mixes European cooking with spices like nutmeg, allspice and hot peppers, brought to South Africa from India and Southeast Asia.

South Africa

Soetkoekies (Spice and Wine Cookies)

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup brown sugar
4 ounces chopped almonds
1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup port or sherry
1 egg white, beaten

Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves, brown sugar, and almonds in a large bowl. Add the butter and cut into the flour mixture. Add the beaten eggs and red wine and mix dough together vigorously until it can be formed into a ball.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rough circle about 1/4" thick. With a cookie cutter, cut the dough into 2" rounds. Arrange the rounds about 1" apart on a buttered cookie sheet. Continue cutting cookies, then brush each gently with the egg white. Bake for 15 minutes—until golden brown. Remove to a rack to cool completely.