Gewuerzbredele, Alsatian Spicy Cookies

First of all, let me say it out loud: HAPPY NEW YEAR, luvly dumplings!! May God bless us with obvious enlightment to inspire us to finally start that diet program we have been planning since 5 years ago. Amin. 

Oookay, now let's move on to a more serious matter, shall we? It might seem like I have abandoned this website, but honestly, I have not, and I will not. Ever. The truth is I'm lazy  I have a lot in my hands lately; work, family, travel, and stuff. I haven't stop cooking and trying out new recipes but somehow my food just isn't photogenic enough to be posted. Yes, I know, I really need to work on my food pic taking skills. 

Anyway, the good news is, to celebrate the first day of 2018, I managed to whip out this Alsation spicy cookies with success, and it looks good too! Yay!

Bredele is a type of Alsatian cookies traditionally baked during Christmas season. What I like from this cookies is the fact that it uses spices close to home such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg. It made my whole apartment smell amazing when I was baking this cookies. So, let's get started!

Ingredients:

500 gr all-purpose flour

350 gr sugar

2 large eggs

2 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp citron essence

1/4 tsp ginger powder

1/4 tsp freshly ground cardamom pods

1/4 tsp cloves powder

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg powder (I grated it using cheese grater, small holes)

1 tsp white pepper powder

1 tbsp cinnamon powder

1/2 cup of milk 

Glazing: 

75 gr of confectioner sugar

1/8 cup of milk 

Cooking step: 

1. Put all the spices in a small mixing bowl, mix thoroughly, set aside, 
2. In a big bowl, add flour, sugar, eggs, citron essence, the spice mix, and milk. Mix all the ingredients using an electric mixer until the dough become smooth, 
3. Wrap the dough using a plastic wrap and let it rest for about an hour in the fridge, 
4. Flour the flat surface you will be working on, so your dough won't stick to it, 
5. Take out the dough from the fridge and roll it out on the floured surface to 1 cm thickness, cut it into shapes using cookie cutter
6. Bake on 350 F (180 C) for about 15 to 17 minutes
7. Meanwhile, prepare the glazing. In a bowl, mix confectioner sugar and milk until smooth,
8. Once the cookies are out of the oven, wash it right away with the glazing using a cooking brush,
9. Let the cookies cool and the glazing harden, 
10. Et voila, serve them with a glass of milk or a cup of your favorite tea!

PS: I made few different cookie thickness and shapes, but I prefer the thinner ones, it's crunchy. I also put red food coloring in my glazing at the end, just for the look.