Recipes from South Africa

Krismis Koekies (Christmas Cookies)

1. Cream together 2 Cups Sugar and 4 Eggs.

2. Add 2 Tablespoons Apricot preserve (jam ).

3. Sift together 6 Cups Flour, 4 Teaspoons Mixed Spice, 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon, 1 Teaspoon Ginger, 1/4 Taespoon Cloves and 1 Teaspoon Salt.

4. Dissolve 1 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar in 1 Cup Milk.

5. Add 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda to this milk mixture.

6. Add 8oz (250g) Melted Butter to the egg mixture.

7. Add The three mixtures together thoroughly (the eggs, the dry ingredients and the milk mixture). The dough should be just firm enough to roll out with a rolling pin on a floured surface.

8. Roll out small pieces of dough (keep the rest in the refrigerator while you work) and cut cookies with your favourite shapes. The dough should be just less than 1/4" thick.

9. Bake at 425ºF until just starting to become brown around the edges. You can experiment: The thinner the dough and the longer you bake them, the more crisp and hard they will be. Make the dough thicker and bake them a minute or two less than when they turn brown and you will have a softer cookie.

The dry cookies last well in a cookie tin.

Posted by Johan at April 24, 2003 09:47 AM