Braune Plätzchen (gesundheit!)

[underused]

There are certain recipes in our family collection that are sort of a mystery.

Many of these have a name on them--Tante Grete. She was my father's aunt and a person I never met. Her recipes have German names and surprising ingredients measured in unexpected ways. One of her cookie recipes asks for "ein guten messerspitz Hirschhornsalz." This translates to "a generous knife-tip of Hartshorn Salt" (also known as Baker's Ammonia and, amusingly, smelling salts). Tante Grete is also responsible for the creme-fraiche-basted goose we make at the holidays.

One of her simplest and, somehow, most troublesome recipes was for Braune Plätzchen (literally "brown cookies"). A great favourite of my father in his childhood, I had no idea how they ought to look or taste. I made them for dad a couple of times but they were always wrong. Too tough, he said. Dad died almost two years ago, but this year I decided to give them one last try. They totally worked.

They key to these crisp little biscuits is rolling them thin--like, VERY thin--getting them into the oven cold, and letting them brown.

When you look at the recipe you'll notice there's lots of sugar. Never fear; they aren't overly sweet when they're baked. They do, however, have a lovely ginger heat that sort of appears a few seconds after you eat them.

This recipe made a few dozen. If you don't want that many, cut the quantities in half.

INGREDIENTS

1 c corn syrup
1 c sugar
1/2 lb butter (1 c)

5 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp lemon rind (finely chopped or grated)
1/2 tbsp cloves
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ginger
1/2 c heavy cream (35% mf)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 F

Over medium/low heat, combine and melt your syrup, sugar, and butter. Let cool.

Mix your dry ingredients (and lemon). Stir them into your sugar mixture alternately with the cream until everything is mixed and smooth. Your dough will likely still be a bit warm and sticky. Tante Grete recommends chilling for 24 hours, but I was impatient. I chilled it for three hours, then I cut the first batch of cookies onto a baking sheet which I put back in the fridge while the stove pre-heated. Then as each sheet baked, I'd cut and chill a new batch, ensuring each sheet was really cold when it went in to bake.

Roll your dough on a floured surface, lightly flouring both surface and roller periodically to keep things from sticking.

Roll your dough thin--about 1/8" (or maybe 3 mm). They won't spread out, so you can place them close together on the sheet. Cut as you like; mine were fairly small (the hearts in the photo above are about 1 1/2" across).

Bake 11-15 mins. The cookies should brown, at least around the edges and underneath. If they're thin enough, they'll likely brown uniformly all over.

Taste as you go. The ideal version of this cookie is crisp right to the centre, so test to make sure you're getting the right consistency.