These wafer-thin cinnamon cookies are just the thing to put you in a festive mood: anyone can enjoy them and there's plenty for the whole family
The scent of cinnamon and cloves released from these Danish brunkager will make your whole house smell of Christmas. The key to these extremely moreish biscuits is their wafer-thin crispness, so keep the semi-cooked dough in the fridge for up to a fortnight and bake a tray or so at a time. This version is based on a family recipe, tweaked to make them gluten-free and dairy-free. The quantity seems mad, but expect everyone to eat at least four or five each time you bake – you'll soon get through the dough!
Makes about 80
*125g dairy-free margarine*
*125g caster sugar*
*75g golden syrup*
*½ tsp ground cloves*
*1½ tbsp ground cinnamon*
*½ tsp bicarbonate of soda*
*300g gram (chickpea) flour*
*50g rice flour*
*25g flaked almondsj*
*Vegetable oil for greasing*
*1 *Melt the margarine, sugar and syrup in a large pan on a medium heat. When the mixture starts to boil, stir in the spices, followed by the bicarbonate of soda. Keep stirring, until you see the colour change to a lighter shade of brown.
*2* At this point, remove the pan from the heat and tip in the gram and rice flours. Stir briskly until everything is well mixed together, then add the almonds. Stir again. You will need to work quickly, as the mixture will gradually start to seize up.
*3* When it is cool enough, you might need to put your hands to work in kneading the mixture into a smooth, soft dough.
*4 *Form the dough into a long sausage about 6cm in diameter, then put it on a plate and refrigerate at least overnight. This helps the flavours to develop and makes the dough solidify.
*5 *When you are ready for the final stage of biscuit making, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Lightly oil a couple of baking trays and then, using a serrated knife, slice the dough sausage as thinly as you can manage – about 1-2mm thick is ideal.
6 Bake for 7–10 minutes, or until the biscuits have uniformly darkened. As soon as you remove them from the oven, loosen them from the tray and cool them on a wire rack. They will become crisp as they cool. Store in an airtight tin.
*What to watch out for*
Check that your ground spices do not contain wheat flour. Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.
The scent of cinnamon and cloves released from these Danish brunkager will make your whole house smell of Christmas. The key to these extremely moreish biscuits is their wafer-thin crispness, so keep the semi-cooked dough in the fridge for up to a fortnight and bake a tray or so at a time. This version is based on a family recipe, tweaked to make them gluten-free and dairy-free. The quantity seems mad, but expect everyone to eat at least four or five each time you bake – you'll soon get through the dough!
Makes about 80
*125g dairy-free margarine*
*125g caster sugar*
*75g golden syrup*
*½ tsp ground cloves*
*1½ tbsp ground cinnamon*
*½ tsp bicarbonate of soda*
*300g gram (chickpea) flour*
*50g rice flour*
*25g flaked almondsj*
*Vegetable oil for greasing*
*1 *Melt the margarine, sugar and syrup in a large pan on a medium heat. When the mixture starts to boil, stir in the spices, followed by the bicarbonate of soda. Keep stirring, until you see the colour change to a lighter shade of brown.
*2* At this point, remove the pan from the heat and tip in the gram and rice flours. Stir briskly until everything is well mixed together, then add the almonds. Stir again. You will need to work quickly, as the mixture will gradually start to seize up.
*3* When it is cool enough, you might need to put your hands to work in kneading the mixture into a smooth, soft dough.
*4 *Form the dough into a long sausage about 6cm in diameter, then put it on a plate and refrigerate at least overnight. This helps the flavours to develop and makes the dough solidify.
*5 *When you are ready for the final stage of biscuit making, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Lightly oil a couple of baking trays and then, using a serrated knife, slice the dough sausage as thinly as you can manage – about 1-2mm thick is ideal.
6 Bake for 7–10 minutes, or until the biscuits have uniformly darkened. As soon as you remove them from the oven, loosen them from the tray and cool them on a wire rack. They will become crisp as they cool. Store in an airtight tin.
*What to watch out for*
Check that your ground spices do not contain wheat flour. Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.