Cookie #8 Soetkoekies (South Africa)

This recipe was recommended by a South African friend of mine. I can't lie, I had doubts when I saw lard in the ingredients but these cookies are very tasty and don't taste like pig. ;-) So WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR VEGETARIANS. It's a pretty forgiving recipe and I would say don't be afraid to cook them until they are a nice golden brown as they get a bit more crunch in them. These cookies are quite like gingerbread but without the kick that you would get from the ginger and molasses in the gingerbread.

I had some fun with the shapes on these and got to finally use the unicorn cookie cutter from a friend and the dinosaur cutter my sister gave me years ago. The dinosaurs and unicorns have been a great hit with the kids. These cookies hold their shape really well so are good for fancy shapes. This recipe makes a LOT of cookies but they keep very well, just have a good airtight container handy.

 

You can view the recipe link here. The recipe seems like it has a lot of salt in it but I put in the recommended amount and they tasted totally fine.

INGREDIENTS:

Yield 80-90 cookies

5 cups cake flour
2 cups brown sugar or 2 cups yellow sugar, if available
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons salt
113g butter, soft
113g pork fat (You can render your own or most supermarkets carry it or use Crisco as a substitute)
1⁄2 cup semi-sweet sherry
2 large eggs, whisked well
   
METHOD:

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 pork fat with your fingers and palms until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (See not below.)
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.

NOTE: A handy hint I learned from a friend’s mum years ago for rubbing butter into flour- grate it in. Make sure your butter (and pig fat) and super cold- a brief stint in the freezer can help this. Make sure it’s as much in one solid chunk as possible. Coat it in the flour in the bowl, sit the flour over flour in the bowl, rub some flour over it and then grate the butter. This makes it nice and small and evenly sized and gets rubbed into breadcrumb consistency much faster.

Best eaten: these are nice with a cup of tea (but then what isn’t? ;-) )