Looking for an original way to treat your loved one on Valentine’s Day?
Play an old-fashioned tune, dish up some sugar and spice and add some sophistication with a beautiful glass of well-chilled La Motte Straw Wine!
It is as easy as one, two, three:
1. Get the La Motte Straw Wine from our Tasting Room or online
2. Follow the recipe below and bake some delicious traditional Soetkoekies (spice biscuits). We recommend using a heart-shaped cookie cutter.
3. Play this charming tune from The Drifters: Sweets for my Sweet
Soetkoekies for Valentine’s Day
The first biscuits made at the Cape during Jan van Riebeeck’s time were krakelinge in the shape of a number eight, but they have disappeared from modern cooking. Other biscuits such as soetkoekies (spice biscuits) and ginger biscuits developed from the small, dry biscuits favoured by the Dutch settlers at the Cape.
Sweet wine is one of the traditional ingredients used in the soetkoekie recipe, and with their spiciness they are also delicious when served with a soetsopie or small glass of sweet wine.
For Valentine’s Day, indulge in some traditional delights with a well-chilled glass of La Motte Straw Wine.
Soetkoekies Recipe (from our Cape Winelands Cuisine cookbook, page 217).
Ingredients
4 cups (4 x 250 ml) cake flour
½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt
1 tsp (5 ml) ground cinnamon
1 tsp (5 ml) ground cloves
1 tsp (5 ml) ground ginger
1½ cups (375 ml) sugar
220 g butter
1 tsp (5 ml) bicarbonate of soda
2 Tbsp (30 ml) lukewarm water
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup La Motte Straw Wine
Method
Sift the flour, salt and spices together.
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the water and add to the beaten egg.
Add the wet and dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar and mix until it forms into a dough. Leave to stand for a few hours of if you can, overnight.
Preheat the oven to 200 ˚C (400 ˚F).
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to thickness of 5 mm.
Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Place the biscuits on a wire rack to cool.
#ValentinesDay #Sweetsformysweet
