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Culinary Explorer
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Fryske Dúmkes (Frisian Little Thumb Cookies)
Created by
The name means little thumbs, and the biscuit keeps its promise: small, nutty, spiced, and pressed by hand, Friesland's coffee-table secret in one crisp bite.
Pastries & Cookies
Dutch
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
25 min
Active Time
15 min cook•1 hr 40 min total
Yield36 cookies
The first time I ate Fryske dúmkes in Friesland, I was told not to admire them too much. This is always a useful warning in the north. The biscuit was short, brown at the edges, full of chopped hazelnuts, and scented with anise, ginger, and cinnamon, the kind of spice mixture that reminds you Dutch thrift never meant Dutch plainness. Exuberant cookery in a frugal country, again, hiding in a tin beside the coffee.
The name already tells you the whole joke. Dúmke is Frisian for little thumb, because the old way was to press each small piece of dough with a thumb before baking. Not a decoration. A signature. Friesland has always kept its own language close, and here it keeps it in butter, flour, nuts, and spice, which is a method I respect.
But let me tell you a secret: these are not fancy cookies, and they suffer when treated as if they are. The dough wants cold butter, a short rest, rough chopped hazelnuts, and a firm little press. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. Bake them until the edges darken and the middle stays tawny; the biscuit should snap cleanly, then turn sandy and nutty under your teeth. Put them in a tin. Make coffee. Friesland has arrived.
Fryske dúmkes belong to Friesland's regional biscuit tradition and take their name from the Frisian dúmke, little thumb, referring to the thumbprint once pressed into each piece of dough before baking. Their flavour reflects the Dutch spice trade as it settled into ordinary household baking: cinnamon and ginger beside northern European anise and locally familiar hazelnuts. By the nineteenth and twentieth centuries they were established as a Frisian coffee-table biscuit, sold by bakers and kept at home in tins for winter visits and feast days.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
plain flour
Quantity
200g
unsalted butter
Quantity
125g
cold and diced
dark brown basterdsuiker or light muscovado sugar
Quantity
125g
egg yolk
Quantity
1
hazelnuts
Quantity
75g
toasted and roughly chopped
aniseed
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lightly crushed
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
ground ginger
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
milk (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| plain flour | 200g |
| unsalted buttercold and diced | 125g |
| dark brown basterdsuiker or light muscovado sugar | 125g |
| egg yolk | 1 |
| hazelnutstoasted and roughly chopped | 75g |
| aniseedlightly crushed | 1 teaspoon |
| ground cinnamon | 1 teaspoon |
| ground ginger | 1/2 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | 1/4 teaspoon |
| milk (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Baking tray
- •Parchment paper
- •Mixing bowl
- •Wire cooling rack
Instructions
- 1
Toast the nuts
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan for three to five minutes, shaking often, until they smell warm and nutty. Rub off any loose skins in a clean towel, then chop them roughly. Do not turn them into dust; a dúmke should have little knobbles of nut under the teeth.
- 2
Make the dough
Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, aniseed, and salt in a bowl. Rub in the cold diced butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, then stir in the egg yolk and chopped hazelnuts. Press the dough together with your hands; add the milk only if it refuses to gather.
- 3
Rest it cold
Pat the dough into a flat block, wrap it, and chill for at least one hour. This is not fussiness. Cold dough keeps the butter firm, gives the flour time to drink, and lets the spices settle into the sugar so the finished biscuit tastes like one thing rather than a committee.
- 4
Shape and press
Heat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment. Cut or pinch the dough into small pieces, about 12g each, and shape them into short thumb-sized ovals. Lay them on the tray with a little space between them, then press each one gently with your thumb. The mark should be visible, not dramatic; Friesland is not asking for theatre.
If the dough softens while you shape it, slide the tray into the refrigerator for ten minutes before baking. Butter that goes into the oven cold gives you the short, sandy texture you came for. - 5
Bake until tawny
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are a deeper brown and the tops are dry and tawny. Let the cookies firm on the tray for five minutes, then move them to a rack. They crisp as they cool, which is why stealing one too early teaches patience in the most direct possible way.
Chef Tips
- •Crush the aniseed lightly just before mixing. Whole seeds are fragrant but shy; crushed ones give the biscuit its proper Frisian lift.
- •Use basterdsuiker if you can find it. Its fine, slightly moist texture helps the biscuit bake short and sandy; light muscovado is the honest substitute.
- •Keep the hazelnuts rough. A smooth nut meal makes a polite biscuit, and these little thumbs are better with character.
- •Store them in a tin for up to two weeks. They are better on the second day, after the spice has settled and the biscuit has found its snap.
Advance Preparation
- •The dough can be made two days ahead and kept refrigerated; let it soften just enough to shape.
- •The shaped unbaked cookies can be frozen on a tray, then stored in a bag for up to two months and baked straight from frozen with two extra minutes.
- •The baked cookies keep well in an airtight tin for one to two weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 14g)
Calories
75 calories
Total Fat
4 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
20 mg
Total Carbohydrates
8 g
Dietary Fiber
0.4 g
Sugars
3.6 g
Protein
1 g
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