Almond spice wafers

Last Saturday I set out to bake a batch of cookies for my coworkers – after all, I needed to use one of my birthday gifts for the first time; being in a Christmas mood I chose these almond spice wafers. After making the dough – quite quickly, I might add – I placed the cylinder in the freezer and went to the movies. As usual, a visit to IMDb was made upon returning home and what a surprise it was for me to see that this guy and Roland Emmerich’s William Shakespeare are the same person. Wow. The greatest chameleon
of all would be proud. ;)

"Anonymous" is the first of Emmerich’s movies I have ever felt curious about – I’ll certainly watch it once it premieres here; these wafers, so delicious and crisp, were the first cookies I tried from Martha’s book, but won’t be the last: it’s packed with so many great recipes I cannot wait to bake from it again.

Almond spice wafers
slightly adapted from Martha’s cookie bible

1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoons ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (132g) packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg
about 3 tablespoons sliced blanched almonds

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.
Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed for 4 minutes. Add the egg. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour mixture in 3 additions. Mix just until incorporated. Turn dough onto a large piece of baking paper and shape into a long cylinder, about 4cm in diameter – like Martha does here. Twist the ends and freeze until firm, 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Remove dough from freezer, let soften slightly. Cut into very thin slices –about 3mm (1/8in) thick – with a sharp knife.
Place slices 5cm (2in) apart onto one of the prepared sheets – you’ll bake one sheet at a time; keep the remaining dough in the freezer, wrapped in the sheet of baking paper. Top each with 2 to 3 almond slices, pressing slightly to make the almond slices stick. Bake until dark golden brown, 10-12 minutes.
Let cool completely on sheet on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough.

Makes about 45 cookies