Sarah Jane: Whole-wheat Windmill Cookies

I made these last night, it's my own recipe, tweaked until I got it pretty close to the authentic flavor. For those of you who [gasp!] don't know what Windmill cookies are, these are pretty close to a ginger snap.

Speculaas {Dutch Windmill Cookies}

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons speculaaskruiden
2 tablespoons ground almonds (optional)

Cream butter, sugar and molasses. Beat in egg and vanilla. I a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, speculaaskruiden and ground almonds. Spoon into a pastry bag with a large round tip and pipe little nickel sized cookies onto a parchment covered cookie sheet. Alternatively you could drop blobs onto the paper with a spoon, just make them small or they won't get crispy.

I baked these for 13 min., but you may have to vary the time to get them just right. They come out chewy any after cooling completely on the pan they should peel off the paper perfectly. Your batter also is going to be darker than the pictures show, because I've increased the spice and molasses content for additional yum :D