1/2 cup shortening; part butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg; well beaten
2 cups flour; sifted
1 1/2 cups carrots; grated
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp orange juice
1/4 tsp orange rind; (optional)
1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar, blend in carrots. Add juice and egg and blend. Sift flour, baking powder and salt, add to above. Drop by teaspoons on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 F for 10-12 min. Frost while warm with a thin icing made with powdered sugar and orange juice.

Makes 6 dozen.

20 cups (5 pounds) all-purpose flour
4 1/2 cups (2 pounds) brown sugar
12 eggs
2 cups butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
splash or two of whiskey, rum, or scotch (optional)
Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, salt, and liquor (if desired). Blend in.

Now it gets to be fun. You have to work in all five pounds of flour little by little by hand. It will work in but it takes a while. You’ll wind up with a BIG mixing bowl of dough.

Refrigerate dough overnight.

Have plenty of people to help with the cooking. Lightly grease and heat the empty cookie iron over a gas burner. Start with a tablespoon and a half of dough rolled into a little “cigar” shape and vary amount to fit the size of your cookie iron. It takes from one to one and a half minutes to cook each cookie – it’s a trial and error process at first till you get a handle on the temperature of the gas burner and the heat retaining capabilities of your iron. A properly cooked cookie will be golden and after cooled, crisp. If you are using an electric iron, the temp won’t be an issue.

Remarks:
No quantities given but this should be a lot of cookies!

Source: Tara Godfrey – Posted to the Food Forum 09:23:43 12/20/2000.

4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 lb. sweet butter, softened
4 eggs
2 tbsp. rum

Preparation:
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Make a well in the center and put the softened butter, eggs and rum in well. Gradually mix the flour into other ingredients. Let the mixture, which will be a paste, stand at room temperature, uncovered, for 2 hours. Divide into small balls the size of 2 tablespoons, and cook them in a waffle iron. Cool on a rack and store as for cookies. (Note:
Belgians eat these like cookies instead of as a breakfast food).

Makes 3-4 dozen.

Source: Olga Drozd – Posted at the Food Forum at 18:54:14 06/18/2001.

4,5 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups blanched grated almonds
1 & 1/4 cup light brown sugar; packed
1/3 cup brandy [or orange juice]
2/3 cup milk
2 sticks butter; melted

Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. Add grated almonds and brown sugar. Pour in brandy or juice, milk, and butter. Mix well with hands until dough feels like clay. Shape into a roll. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill overnight.

Slice 1/4-inch slices and place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake – 375° about 8-10 minutes. Remove from sheet immediately. Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 60 cookies. Keep in airtight container or plastic bag.

Source: my Fidonet collection.

3 1/2 sticks of butter
2 cups sugar
7 to 8 eggs; medium or large
4 1/2 cup flour

Soften butter until nearly melted, but not quite; cool. Beat eggs. Add sugar gradually. Add butter. Add flour a little at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Refrigerate dough several hours.

Cook on waffle iron until light golden brown (not too dark!). Use a heaping tablespoon of dough on each section of waffle iron grid, or use a larger “blob” of dough in center of iron. Separate sections when cooked.

Recipe can be doubled. Galettes keep well in a covered tin.

Yield: 1 batch

Source: Kris Faria 09/24/96 in Cooking Echo

6 tb Butter
2 tb Sugar
1/4 c Dark corn syrup
1 t Lemon rind; grated
1 tb Lemon juice
1 t Rum
1/4 ts Ginger
1/4 ts Nutmeg
1/4 ts Ground cloves
1/4 ts Cinnamon
2 c Flour

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the corn syrup, lemon rind and juice, rum, and spices and beat well. Gradually stir in the flour until the dough forms a ball. (The dough can be prepared in a food processor, using the same procedure.) If the flour has been packed closely in the measuring cup, you may find that the dough tends not to cohere into a ball. The addition of a teaspoon of two of water will correct the proportions.

Divide the dough in two and pat each piece into a rectangular shape. Wrap and chill for 1 or 2 hours in the refrigerator or place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Measure out a large piece of aluminum foil that will fit a cookie sheet. Turn its shiny side down, place one of the rectangles of dough on it, and rap it a few times with a rolling pin to soften the chilled dough a little. Cover with a piece of wax paper the same length as the foil and fasten the two sheets together with several straight pins. Roll the dough between the foil and the wax paper as thin as you can. The thinner the better and crisper. Do not attempt to work too fast, but press down heavily on the rolling pin. The rolled-out dough should almost reach the edges of the wax paper.

Lift the dough with with foil and wax paper onto the cookie sheet, foil side down. Remove the straight pins and carefully pull off the wax paper. Cut the dough into any shape you desire–squares, rectangles, diamonds, triangles–but leave in place after cutting. Make certain you cut through the dough; this will prevent excess breakage later. Place in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned.

The ultrathin dough at the edges of the pan will brown faster than the rest. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Store in an airtight container.

These crisps are not only extremely good, but very fragile as well. Avoid excessive handling. (Note: The second portion of dough can be frozen for future use.)

Yield: 80 servings

Source: my collection

Speculaas, a specialty of Belgium in which flat gingerbread cakes are cut into different shapes, are the inspiration for this recipe. Similar cookies are made in Holland, Germany and Austria. These are decorated with melted white chocolate and some pretty red sugar.

Note: Traditionally these cookies are not decorated in Belgium, so if you want the true thing you leave out the sugar and chocolate.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg

2 ounces good-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Baker’s), melted
Red colored sugar

Combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until light. Add egg and beat until fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients and beat just until combined. Divide dough in half. Flatten each half into rectangle. Wrap with plastic; chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350?F. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets. Roll out 1 dough piece on lightly floured work surface to 13 x 9-inch rectangle. Trim edges to form 12×8-inch rectangle. Cut into 24 4×1-inch rectangles. Lightly press miniature cookie cutter into each rectangle to make imprints (do not cut through dough). Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until edges begin to darken, about 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool. Repeat with remaining dough piece.

Working with 1 cookie at a time, brush imprints with melted white chocolate. Sprinkle colored sugar generously over chocolate. Let stand until chocolate sets, about 2 hours. Shake off excess colored sugar. (Can be made ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week, or freeze up to 1 month.)

Remarks: Makes 4 dozen.

Source: Olga Drozd – Posted to the Food Forum 12/18/2000