I smiled. \u201cTop 10 on the great names list, right? It\u2019s a Kate Cookie too \u2013 they describe it as a dunker made with a lot of hazelnuts and some spice. Butter too, I\u2019m afraid.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n She asked to see the initial recipe I\u2019d downloaded, approved both the idea and the incursion into her monthly butter allowance, and then waved me away to work some magic. Magic done; mischief managed. This is a good one.<\/p>\n\n\n As usual, I\u2019m about to run long with the full description of the whys, wherefores, and what-abouts. Skip to the bottom if you\u2019re only here for the recipe<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting the process started<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By this point I have a pretty well established pattern for working on new cookies. I usually find them in the first place by wandering through the Wide World of Google doing searches like, \u201cregional cookies of [This Place]\u201d or \u201clocal baking traditions of [That One].\u201d E-tourism, cookie style. Potential targets pop up in various locations: regional promotion sites, historians looking through an oddball lens, memoirs from tourists, \u00e9migr\u00e9 groups sharing memories, other bakers, etc. I mark down the names, look up the recipes, pick an example for the files, and then put it on the \u201ccookies to test\u201d list with a brief description for later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it\u2019s time to look deeper \u2013 now, in the case of Frisian Thumbs \u2013 I go to the next level in two different ways. First there\u2019s the recipe. I start on that by searching out every possible version the Internet contains. This gives a firm idea of the parameters, from which I\u2019ll write something up using round figures and my experience with other projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there\u2019s the heritage part. That also begins with the Internet, but then moves on to a search for actual humans who know the cookie, and can provide some context. Those two steps provide the raw ingredients: a recipe to work from, and a heritage to explore. And the follow up question: How did these two meet and marry<\/em>? Which is where the test batches come in, followed by gifts for my sources to sample, and adjustments to account for both my reactions and theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ASIDE: There are few things more satisfying than developing my version of a beloved childhood treat for someone who knew it back in the Old Country. Life doesn\u2019t have many perfect moments. Two strangers exploring a cookie together, on truly neutral ground? That is one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n STEP 1: Creating the initial test recipe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, off I went and found no less than eleven (11) different recipes, most with photos and descriptions. These taught me a lot about the underlying issues. Here are my notes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you done yet?\u201d<\/em> I stop and look up. It\u2019s Kate, back from her writing lair. \u201cThose thumb cookies sounded really good, and I\u2019m going to make a pot of coffee. Any chance you\u2019ll have some ready for me to try?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n My friends, this never<\/em> happens! Don\u2019t get me wrong. Kate is a certified cookieholic. She\u2019s at least as bad as I am. But her addiction gets triggered by proximity. See cookie; snitch cookie; savor cookie; repeat. I\u2019m the one who gets entranced by recipes alone. But not this time, apparently. I wasn\u2019t the only one getting hit in the, Oh that sounds good!<\/em> spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I promised to get her something in the next day or two and then went back to my research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Time to check in on the heritage part of the equation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n STEP 2: What\u2019s the story behind all this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I knew going in that the Frisians were a big deal back in the Viking Age. Why would someone name a cookie after their thumbs? It turns out there\u2019s a string of small islands off that coastline called \u2013 look at that! \u2013 the Frisian Islands, with the modern Netherlands province of Friesland right in the sheltered area behind them. The name \u201cFrisia\u201d goes back to Roman times, but modern Frisians descended from a Viking tribe who settled in the region after a series of environmental disasters had emptied out most of the original inhabitants. These new Frisians (they adopted the name) were closely related to the Angles and the Saxons who settled in England, only to be conquered in 1066 by the even fiercer Norman Vikings who had settled 400 miles further south. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Frisians who didn\u2019t travel to England with their Anglo-Saxon cousins settled down and became famous for breeding the finest warhorses on the continent. Including, ironically, the mount used by William the Conqueror. Cool! Their descendants maintain a fierce pride about their particular roots, with a regional dialect that is sort of like ancient English mixed with Dutch and German.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no way I was going to find a group of Frisian \u00e9migr\u00e9s here in Pittsburgh! But as it happens, I do know several Dutch bakers through a Facebook group devoted to the molded cookie Speculaas. Thanks go out to one and all. And to Google Translate, since the recipes they pointed me to were written in Dutch, with notes on particular Frisian words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The material from my online friends brought me up to 14 versions, which led to a modified master recipe while also answering a lot of questions. First, Frisian Thumbs are a true specialty of modern day Friesland, and little known outside its borders. They are not an extension of other Dutch cookies. Second, Frisians are a lot more culturally distinct than Americans would tend to assume. So much so that road signs in the province appear in both Dutch and Fries. Thus it may be inevitable that Frisian bakers will start from normal Dutch ingredients when it comes to flour and sugar (see below), but they wouldn\u2019t be caught dead using a standard spice mix from the store with some extra anise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third, the photos make it clear that these cookies are supposed to be small, thick rectangles, not oblong drop cookies. They must have enough flour to more or less hold their initial shape. That evocative description about, \u201cthe size of a child\u2019s thumb\u201d<\/em> actually makes a good deal of sense. Pull out the ruler and\u2026 \u00bd\u201d thick x \u00be\u201d wide x 1\u00be\u201d long.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n Fourth, not a single one of the Dutch photos contain the thumbprint mark. They\u2019re all plain old rectangles. But I did see several others that had the dent, and you know what? It creates an effect that looks a lot like a thumbnail! I like it.<\/p>\n\n\n Next, I wanted a chewy and somewhat dense texture, but not excessively so. Too much flour, especially with no leavening, would make little bricks. Balance is everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of which, those websites convinced me that balancing the spices had to be job one. Spice cookies are normal for the Netherlands, and don\u2019t raise eyebrows over there like they often do in the U.S. On the other hand, Dutch cooking incorporates a very particular sense of poise and restraint. It shows up on the savory side too. Any cookie that Amsterdam writers would praise as \u201cwell rounded\u201d had to be exactly that. So my target was clear: a nut cookie enhanced by anise, rounded out with cinnamon and ginger, chewy but not dense, and ideal when paired with a cup of coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DIGRESSION: A primer on Dutch ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dutch ingredients can differ a bit from their counterparts here in America. To start with, bakers in the Netherlands have a different type of flour than you find in the U.S. Here in America we grade our flour according to protein content, going from low protein cake flour all the way up to high protein bread flour. On the Continent they grade their flour more by grind size. The best Speculaas, e.g., use something called TIP-00 flour, an Italian product that is ground to a spectacularly fine level \u201csimilar to baby powder.\u201d That doesn\u2019t matter for the recipe at hand, but it makes a real difference for a molded cookie where the features are a key difference between good and better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case we need to look at the sugar. U.S. sugar is made by grinding sugar cane to a pulp, extracting the sweet syrup, and then removing the impurities to leave only pure sucrose. Those impurities are sold separately as \u201cmolasses.\u201d Mix a generous tablespoon of molasses back into a cup of white sugar, and you get \u201clight brown sugar.\u201d Mix in two tablespoons and you\u2019ll have \u201cdark brown sugar.\u201d Half a tablespoon yields \u201cturbinado sugar.\u201d [NOTE: you technically want to add a little bit more than just 1 tbsp. Hence the word “generous.\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not so in the Netherlands. Their basic ingredient comes from sugar beets rather than sugar cane, which creates some differences you’d notice if the two were used side by side. Speculaas use something called \u201cBelgian Brown Sugar,\u201d which is made by taking regular sugar, gently caramelizing a small portion, and then mixing it back in with the white kind. Stella Parks published a great essay and recipe on this<\/a> at SeriousEats.com if you want to learn more. This goes to the second part<\/a>. Then there’s a “brown sugar” made by mixing some actual cane molasses into beet sugar; and another “brown sugar” that’s made by mixing in a cooked sugar syrup that Dutch families use on pancakes instead of the U.S. maple syrup. And…<\/p>\n\n\n\n You get the point. The recipes all used “brown sugar,” but those words don’t mean the same thing in the Netherlands as they do in America. Fortunately enough, I’m told by people who have lived on both sides of the pond that these differences are real, but subtle, and not enough to alter the cookie’s character. The recipe you’ll find below starts with white sugar and adds just enough molasses to turn it into turbinado (i.e., identical to splitting the total 50\/50 between white sugar and light brown sugar). Add more molasses to taste. That’s a great spot to customize.<\/p>\n\n\n STEP 3: Putting it all together to reveal a Heritage Cookie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After all that research, and a second \u201care we there yet?\u201d<\/em> episode from my beloved, the final test recipe came together quickly. I stayed up late to make a batch for the morning coffee, went out of the kitchen to head upstairs\u2026 and discovered She Who Must Be Obeyed waiting on her reading chair, drawn from her aerie by aromas of cooking hazelnuts, butter, and spice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey smell fantastic. Are they ready for testing?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a dunker. They\u2019ll be all soft and warm fresh out of the oven. It won\u2019t be a fair way to judge.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n She cocked her head and gave me a look. \u201cHow many are there in a recipe?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlmost 40 for this batch. They\u2019re actually kind of small.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen there will be plenty left for tomorrow, won\u2019t there?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. My photographer gets awfully picky\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m the photographer! If you want to see picky, keep standing there in the way and you\u2019ll learn about picky!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a man. A mere man. I can\u2019t even translate that sentence. I certainly didn\u2019t want to experience it. So I stepped aside. But I spoke up even as I deferred. \u201cI do want to press in the thumbprints, at least on some. Then we can sample any ugly ones.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And so we did. I burned my thumb. She did not. I will make my thumbprints with the tip of a spoon next time. She will laugh when I do. We both think it\u2019s a great look. And yes, we both had a taste. And then another. They were goooooood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FOLLOW UP NOTE: This batch produced 39 cookies. We ate two that evening, and Kate put ten aside for the photography. There were exactly 20 left when I put them in a tin for my \u201cget thee out of the house\u201d<\/em> sharing trip. Cookie gremlins are a thing in this house, and I can\u2019t exactly blame them. Frisian Thumbs are goooooood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NOTE FROM KATE: Scott is a talented writer of fiction. I categorically deny all of the above. Except the part about Frisian Thumbs being good. No one can deny that.<\/p>\n\n\n Final touches<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some cookies take a ton of fidgeting. Others just slide together all on their own. This was one of the latter. They were great warm, and the ones that survived our gremlins were even better the next morning. I\u2019m noshing on some of the rapidly vanishing leftovers even as I type. So there weren’t a lot of changes in this one. But there are a few decision points beyond the recipe that our readers should know about in advance. Knowledge is power, and this way so you can make your own choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s about it. Sorry to run on so long. This is an easy cookie to fall in love with, and both of us have. Head over heels. Let us know if you feel the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A buttery, hazelnutty, spice cookie dunker from the Netherlands’ Viking province that has become our new favorite to pair with a cup of good coffee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,28,11,8,10],"tags":[33,72,71,70],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dunkers","category-lowlands-cookies","category-german-europe","category-nut-cookies","category-spice-cookies","tag-anise","tag-frisia","tag-hazelnut","tag-netherlands"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Frisian-thumbs-coffee-and-pussy-willows-angled-nice-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1678,"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/1678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Frisian-thumbs-pattern-on-blue-close-and-angled-nicer-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Frisian-thumb-process-photo-1-1024x768.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Frisian-thumb-process-photo-on-trays-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Frisian-thumb-process-photo-pressing-in-the-thumbprint-1024x768.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Frisian-thumbs-coffee-and-pussy-willow-nicer-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Frisian-thumbs-coffee-and-pussy-willows-artsy-and-nice-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Frisian-Thumb-Cookies-2-791x1024.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n