Dutch Pepernoten

Playing it safe, my first Dutch recipe of the month was, of course, a cookie.  What better a way to break into a country's culinary realm than to discover the delectable goodies they consider treats.  Pepernoten, in particular, are apparently a special cookie reserved for the Christmas season.  And, although I am not a person who is very fond of that time of year (bah humbug!), I am also not known to discriminate when it comes to cookies.  After all, aren't they really one of life's simple pleasures?!

So, with simplicity in mind, I found a recipe that seemed pleasing, measured and mixed accordingly, and ended up in the worst possible position - with a dry, crummy mess than showed no life of becoming a dough.  Perhaps because of a typo, perhaps because of blatant inaccuracy, the recipe I had in hand was all wrong.  Not enough liquid substances to add life to the dry goods.  

Not being one to give up (or, rather, being too cheap to throw away perfectly good sugar and spice), I decided to experiment.  I figured it was worth a shot.  So, I did the only thing that made sense - I added a double dose of butter and milk to the recipe.  And, to my delight, it worked.  Though my concoction may or may not be considered a totally authentic recipe, here is what I used to make (semi) Dutch Pepernoten:

Yield: 50 cookies

Ingredients:
About 6 or 7 Tbsp. butter

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup self raising flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground aniseed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and sugar.
3. Mix in all of the spices.
4. Add the flour and milk and mix well.
5. Make very small marble sized balls.
6. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden.

Warning to folks who try these: they are VERY addictive! I found myself eating one right after another, almost losing count of how many were entering my mouth. They are hard, spicy cookies (much like gingersnaps) and, because of their smaller size, you can easily assume that you're not doing as much damage as you would with their other cookie cousins. Just watch out. Though they will call your name, you must resist after the third one - otherwise, you will be sorry that you underestimated their filling potential.

(The original recipe came from this link : http://www.recipezaar.com/Dutch-Pepernoten-195547)