Frysian thumbs

When temperature drops and days are getting shorter and often wetter, I spend more time inside. There is still a lot that needs to be done in the garden, but somehow I want to brighten up my home, bury my nose in a book and try out some new recipes.

When leaving through one of my cookery books I came upon a recipe for a traditional Dutch cookie from the north of our country called Frisian thumbs. What makes them so special is it's shape (that of a thumb) the spices, like aniseed, ginger powder and cinnamon and the grounded nuts that go inside.  

I thought I would give you the recipe and add some vintage finds to my photo's.

- 250 gr flour
- 100 gr ground hazelnuts
- 100 gr butter
- 150 gr dark brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground aniseed 
- a pinch of salt

Preheat the electric oven at 170 degrees Celsius, fan oven at 150 degrees Celsius. Line the baking tray with baking paper.

Cream the butter with the sugar. Add the egg, salt, the nuts, the cinnamon, ground ginger and ground aniseed. Sieve the flower into the mixture and knead into a dough. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about an hour.

Sprinkle flower over your worktop and roll out the dough. It has to be 1 cm thick. Cut rectangles which are 4 cm x 2 cm. Add the cookies onto the tray, leave some gaps in between and bake for about 20 minutes. Leave to cool.

They were gone within a day in my home :-)

Wish you a happy new week!

Love

Madelief x


* The botanical plate is by Bloomingville