Windmill Cookies

Submitted by deborahlee555

"Posted by request. This recipe was originally printed in the Milwaukee Journal. Time does not include chilling time. Also, I would suggest reading kburie's review if you are interested in trying these, as it contains some very helpful preparation info"

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 50

ingredients

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 cup hot water
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 dash ground cloves
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground mace
• 3⁄4 cup blanched slivered almond

directions

1. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water.
2. Mix together the butter, brown sugar and baking soda and water mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and mace; combine with the butter mixture and stir in the almonds.
4. Roll dough into 2 loaves, each 3-1/2 x 10".
5. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°.
7. Slice loaves into 1/4-inch slices on a cookie sheet abotu 2" apart for 10 minutes, or until slightly browned.

Reviews

[Warren K.]

These babies are Heaven in your mouth. I don,t normally make adjustments to a recipe but I had to make an exception on this one. I changed the spices to a formula dating back to the 15th Century. The only reason I did so was because the other recipe called for rolling out the dough and did not contain the almonds. This is the spice formula I used. Also it called for 2 1/2 Tablespoons of the mixture. I used 1/2 tablespoon as my parts measure and had very little left over. I have made these cookies countless times and wonder why I bake any other kind. Thanks for the pleasure!!! * Speculaas spice: 8 parts cinnamon 2 parts nutmeg 2 parts ground cloves 1 part white pepper 1 part ground ginger 1 part cardamom

 

[Vino Girl]

I am the one who requested this recipe, and I can't thank you enough! These cookies are easy to make, taste great, are nice-looking, and even made my house smell good when I made them. You definitely must chill the dough overnight - it is a rather soft dough, but it firms up nicely in the fridge. Also, the dough should be returned to the refrigerator between batches because it does soften back up pretty fast. I floured my hands when forming the loaves, and that really made it easy to handle without any stickiness. The dough is easy to work with as long as you do these things. This makes a lot of cookies - I got over 80, and that was even with me eating a healthy amount of the dough. :) The only change I would make is, I might try a little almond extract in it next time. The flavor was yummy and spiced very well, but a little stronger almond might make it even better. Thank you again SO much!

 

[nursestryker]

Just like Windmill Cookies from my childhood. excellent recipe and easy to make. I froze half - hopefully I can just thaw, slice and bake those too.

 

[Rose is Rose]

Oh my, these are really good!! I creamed the butter and sugar and had the dry ingredients stirred together before I dissolved the baking soda. I didn't realize I didn't have Mace until I started, so I used All Spice and they still had a good snap to them. I didn't have any trouble shaping the dough into logs. My big technical problem was slicing the dough into even pieces. Some were quite thick and some got pretty brown. They do seem to crisp up as they cool. It makes a lot of cookies. I filled a 2 pound tin to send as a gift, gave some to my UPS driver, ate a lot and saved about another dozen back for hubby to sample when he gets home. Charmed, this is one swell recipe. I will be making again. Thanks for posting!!

 

[desperado8156]

this is great. I have been looking and searching for how to make these cookies for so long. THANKS