South African Traditional Soetkoekies Sweet Cookies Recipes

SOETKOEKIES - SWEET WINE AND SPICE SOUTH AFRICAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray. Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt together and set aside.
• In a deep bowl, cream the butter and the dark-brown sugar together, mashing and beating them against the sides of the bowl until they are thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, then add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Beat in the wine and chopped almonds.
• With your hands, vigorously knead the dough in the bowl until it can be gathered into a somewhat firm, compact ball. If the dough then seems too soft, knead in up to 1/4 cup more flour, adding it a tablespoon or so at a time.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rough circle about 1/4 inch thick. With a cookie cutter or the rim of a glass, cut it into 2-inch rounds. Arrange the rounds about 1 inch apart on the buttered baking sheets. Then gather the scraps of dough into a ball, roll it out into another circle, and cut out rounds as before.
• Press a blanched almond half lightly into the center of each Soetkoekie and brush the entire top surface of the cookie with the beaten egg white-and-water mixture.
• Bake the cookies in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes, or until they are crisp and firm to the tough. With a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool. The cookies will keep for up to two weeks in a tightly covered jar.

SOETKOEKIES RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C.
• In a large bowl using electric beaters, beat the butter with sugar and eggs until light and fluffy - about 5 minutes.
• In another large bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together.
• Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix to form a soft dough.
• On a well-floured surface, roll out small batches of dough at a time, sprinkling more flour on top of the dough if necessary (the dough can be quite soft and sticky). The thickness should be about 5 mm.
• Press out circles with a cookie cutter, then arrange on a lined/greased baking tray, with at least 2 cm of space between each cookie.
• Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until pale and slightly golden (not too dark), remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
• Store in an airtight container - it keeps well for several weeks.

SOETKOEKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Cream butter, sugar and the together.
• Sift together cake flour, spices and salt.
• Stir through the orange rind
• Mix sifted ingredients with butter mixture until a fairly soft dough is formed.
• Cover and allow to rest for at least a half an hour.
• Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease baking trays or use a non-stick spray.
• Roll the dough out
• Roll out dough thinly between two sheets of glad wrap or baking paper until it is about 3 mm thick.
• Cut out circles, 4 to 5cm in diameter, using a cookie cutter. I used a star cookie cutter
• Place dough shapes slightly apart on baking sheets.
• Bake biscuits for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
• Ice if desired and store in an airtight container.
• Sift one cup of icing sugar into a bowl.
• Slowly add 1 tbsp of milk, and a drop or two of food colouring if desired, and mix through.
• If the icing is too thick, add more milk, 1 tsp at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved.

OLD-FASHIONED SOETKOEKIES RECIPE

Steps:

• Cream butter, sugar and the five eggs together. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Mix sifted ingredients with butter mixture until a fairly soft dough is formed.
• Cover and allow to rest for half an hour.
• Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease baking trays or use a non-stick spray.
• Roll out dough thinly on a surface dusted with flour. Cut out circles, 4 to 5cm in diameter, using a cookie cutter.
• Place dough circles slightly apart on baking sheets. Mix beaten egg and milk, and lightly paint over biscuits. Sprinkle a little sugar in the centre of each biscuit for decoration.
• Bake biscuits for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in an airtight container.

SOUTH AFRICAN TRADITIONAL SOETKOEKIES (SWEET COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 380 deg F/180 deg Celsius.
• Grease cookie tins.
• (** The story of the fat: we can always buy raw pork or mutton fat from a butcher or supermarket butchery dept. To render, cut this fat into small cubes, put (in batches) in a heavy-bottomed pot, and leave over low heat for the fat to "melt out". Pour off the fat at frequent intervals into a container, to prevent the fat browning in the pot. Do this before you start baking, and save the fat in the fridge in a closed container).
• In a large container mix very well: the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and all the spices.
• Rub in the butter and Crisco or fat with your fingers and palms until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Whisk the eggs, add just 1/2 cup sweet wine to the eggs, then stir into the dry mixture.
• Stir this in well, and if still too dry to form a dough, add more of the sweet wine to form a fairly stiff dough.
• The dough is easy to handle and can be kneaded at this stage to mix well and to form a dough you can roll out.
• Roll out thinly, in batches, on a floured surface. Keep gathering up the unused dough, press together, and roll out again.
• Make sure your oven grid is in the centre of the oven, as cookies burn easily on the bottom, especially if you use dark tins.
• Press out large round cookies, carefully place on the greased tins, and bake in batches in the preheated oven.
• Check cookies after 5 minutes; don't let them burn. Cooking time depends on your oven and size of cookies, but is generally about 7 minutes.
• Remove with an egg-lifter, and let them cool and harden on wire racks. Store in airtight tins.
• The amount given below is a guess: any smaller and you will get up to 130 cookies or more. The cooking time is based roughly on the several batches you will have to cook.
• Can be made weeks before using.
• Although I give an approximately number of cookies, it will depend on your cookie cutter. A smaller cookie cutter will yield up to 130 or more cookies.

SOETKOEKIES ( SPICY WINE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray or grease a cookie sheet.
• Sift together 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 until it can be formed into a ball.
• Roll dough into walnut-sized balls and place on cookie sheets about 2" apart.
• Brush each cookie gently with the egg white.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes - until golden brown. Remove to a rack to cool completely.

KRAKELINGE (SOUTH AFRICAN COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven 400°F.
• In bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg.
• Sift flour and baking powder together and stir into the butter mixture.
• Roll dough about 1/4 inch thick. Brush with the egg yolk, then sprinkle generously with sugar and then the almonds.
• Cut into narrow strips. Form each strip into a figure-8 shape.
• Bake on lightly greased baking sheet 8-10 minutes.

SOUTH AFRICAN SAUSAGE (BOEREWORS)

Steps:

• Skip the first few steps if you are using ground beef and pork.
• Prepare beef and pork by trimming off all sinew, and other nasty bits and pieces that may affect the texture.
• To facilitate mincing, cut meat into long, narrow strips about 3 inch in diameter and freeze for about 30 minutes.
• Mince meat through a course mincer for a rough texture, or finely if you prefer.
• Allow the meat to be fed through with very little assistance from the tamper.
• Finish off by mincing a piece of bread to remove every vestige of meat from the mincer.
• Roast coriander and cloves in a dry frying pan, tossing the spices about until uniformly brown and aromatic.
• Don't allow to burn.
• Grind spices with a pestle and mortar, sift to remove husks, mix with remaining spices and sugar and sprinkle over the mince.
• Lightly mix in wine or vinegar.
• Drain the casings and place over one end of the filling horn (I use the kitchen aid attachment and carefully push all of the casings on leaving a 3 inch length hanging down).
• Tie a knot in this.
• Grabbing hold of a second pair of hands at this point makes wors-making less traumatic.
• You can then feed the mixture in while your assistant hold the casings, guiding the filling inches.
• Feed the mixture into the mincer a little at a time, while securing the casing with a gentle pressure of one hand on the horn to control the unrolling of the casing as its filled.
• Mould the sausage with your hand to make it uniformly thick.
• Don't pack the casings too full, or the wors will burst while cooking, but try to avoid air bubbles.
• After the casing has been filled, remove it - still attached to the horn - from the machine.
• Push any remaining filling into the casing and tie a knot in the end.
• BBQ quickly over hot coals.
• The skin should be crisp and the middle just pink.
• Serve immediately.