'Palestinian' Cookies ver.1

One of the cookies traditionally served in Denmark around the Yuletide is Jødekager ('Jew cookies'),[1] and I remember a few years ago overhearing that these had fallen a bit from grace due to their name. I recently learned that in a effort to make the Christmas cookie-jar more politically acceptable these Palæstinenserkager ('Palestinian cookies') had been invented. Like other cookies presented here the actual Palestinian character of the cookies is somewhat doubtful.

Actually this didn't pan out quite as expected, but more on that below.

Ingredients:
- 140 g (5 oz) sugar
- zest of 1 lemon, grated
- 7 tbsp water
- 225 g (8 oz) unsalted butter, cut in chunks
- 400 g (14 oz) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
toppings:
- 2 tbsp aniseed
- 100 g (3.5 oz) cane sugar
- 2 tbsp caraway seeds
- 1 tbsp ground cardamom
- 2 tbsp ground coriander
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds


Sugar, lemon zest, water and butter was mixed till homogeneous using a hand-held mixer (this took a little while). In a separate bowl flour, salt, and baking powder was mixed and then stirred into the butter mixture. The somewhat sticky dough was shaped into a log, about 30 cm (12 inches) long, 5 cm (2 inches) thick, wrapped in film and stored in the fridge for 4 h to make it firm.

Half of the log was cut in 0.5 cm (1/5 inch) slices, the other half was cut in 0.2 cm (1/12 inch) slices. All were placed on baking sheets and sprinkled with the pre-mixed toppings. The thicker kind was baked at 180 C (360 F) for 15 minutes while the thinner kind was baked at the same temperature for 12 minutes.


The result wasn't bad - cookies with a rather different taste from the typical arsenal of Danish cookies. And there isn't really an interesting difference between the thicker and thinner kinds. However, in order to get a dough of a texture I could actually roll into a log I had to use a lot more flour than the recipe called for (like 33% extra) - and I think the less sticky dough obtained this way is then less than ideal for making the topping stick. I think I should try again, either making the dough as the original recipe and shaping them in different way than done here or simply brush the cookies with a little beaten egg before sprinkling with the topping.

[1] And I will not be making Jew cookies this year, as some are being kindly donated by Mrs. Throat-Erator's mother.