Carol and I recently returned from a cruise of The Netherlands and Belgium, which inspired me to look Ruth Van Waerebeek’s Everyone Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook, which I have owned for many years.  This posting is adapted from a recipe in that book.  It makes about 30 crisp cookies which I plan to eat with ice bream for dessert tonight.  The dough should be made the day before so the dough can chill in the refrigerator overnight.

5 Tbs. butter at room temperature.

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup (2.17 oz.) all-purpose flour

3 Tbs. finely chopped almonds

Cream the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer for about 3 minutes.  Sprinkle in the flour and work it into the butter-sugar mixture.  Add the chopped almonds and mix them in evenly.  Knead the dough for a minute or two until it is a smooth mass.  (It may still seem rather crumbly.).  Put a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter and form the dough into a log about 2 inches in diameter.  Tightly wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 12 hours, and preferably overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 or 3 cookie sheets with silicon baking mats or baking parchment.  Slice the dough as thinly as possible and put the pieces on the cookie sheet, separated by about an inch.  (If a slice crumbles into pieces, press the pieces together on the baking sheet.)  Bake the sheets one at a time for about 5 minutes.  Remove the sheet from the oven and allow to cool and firm up for about a minute.  Then use a spatula to put them on a wire rack to finish cooling and firming up.  Repeat with the remaining cookie sheets.  When cool, store in an air-tight container.