Recipe: Spice Cookies

This is as close as I could get, so far. I think you could easily use coffee or kahula instead of rum, etc. Happy Holidays, Mandy.

Spice Cookies

2/3 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 cup (108 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar

4 ounces (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted butter

6 ounces (scant 1 1/4 cups) (125 grams) blanched (skinned) almonds

2 cups sifted (250 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black or white pepper, ground fine (preferably freshly ground)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon dark rum, scotch, or brandy

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Finely grated rind of 2 large and firm lemons (use cold lemons to get maximum zest)

Place the corn syrup, sugar, and butter in a saucepan with about a 6 cup capacity. Place
over moderate heat and stir occasionally until the mixture comes to a boil. Let boil for
about 2 minutes. Then set aside to cool a bit.

Toast the almonds on a baking sheet in the middle of a 350 degree oven for about 12
minutes, until the nuts are lightly colored and smell like toasted almonds. Stir the nuts a
few times during toasting. Cool.

Sift together flour, baking soda, allspice, ginger, cinnamon, salt and pepper in a bowl. Set
aside.

Remove about 20 of the toasted almonds and chop into small pieces. Set aside to use as a
topping for cookies.

Place the remainder of the almonds in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add l/4
cup of the sifted dry ingredients and process for about 30 seconds, until fine.

When the corn syrup cools to tepid, add the rum, almond extract, and the grated rind; stir
to mix.

Place the processed nut mixture and dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir to mix. Mix in
the corn syrup mixture.

Spread out 3 12-inch lengths of plastic wrap and place l/3 of the mixture on each piece.
Flatten out dough, wrap and refrigerate for an hour or more.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface. If dough is too hard either pound the dough
with the rolling pin or let it sit at room temperature to soften. Roll out the dough to l/8 inch
thick. Use a 3 l/2 inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles. Transfer cookies to cookie
sheet and sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes - until lightly colored. Do not overbake. Cool cookies on racks.
When cool, store in an airtight container.

Makes 40 cookies.