Chef Joost
Amsterdamse Koggetjes (Amsterdam Nougatine Cookies)
A thin Amsterdam cookie carrying a cog ship in its name: caramelized butter dough, almond nougatine, and a 1934 contest that turned municipal pride into something for coffee.
Culinary Explorer
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Kletskoppen (Dutch Almond Lace Cookies)
Created by
The name means bald heads, a rude little joke for wafer-thin cookies whose pitted caramel tops prove the Dutch can make frugality crackle.
Pastries & Cookies
Dutch
Comfort Food
Dinner Party
Make Ahead
15 min
Active Time
8 min cook•35 min total
Yield24 cookies
The first time I saw a tray of kletskoppen come out of an oven, I thought something had gone wrong. They were too flat, too lacy, too full of holes, as if the baker had forgotten half the dough and trusted sugar to do the rest. But let me tell you a secret: that is exactly the point. A kletskop is a cookie made from restraint, and restraint, in Dutch kitchens, has always been a more interesting ingredient than excess.
The name already tells you the joke. Kletskop is Dutch for a bald head, and when these cookies bake properly their tops turn glossy, pitted, and cracked, like a sunlit pate belonging to an uncle who talks too much after coffee (for obvious reasons, every family has one). There is another shadow in the word too: kletsen, to chatter. These are coffee-table cookies, the sort set down between cups while the conversation becomes slightly less polite and therefore much better.
What matters here is not skill but spacing and nerve. The batter looks too little. The mounds look lonely on the tray. Then the butter and sugar melt, spread, and caramelise into bronze lace, carrying the almond and cinnamon with them. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: small spoonfuls, wide gaps, a watched oven, and the discipline to let them firm before you move them. They crisp as they cool, which is a fine lesson in cookery and in life, though only one of those belongs in the biscuit tin.
Kletskoppen are associated with Dutch and Flemish baking, especially the lace-like almond cookies of Leiden and Bruges, where thin caramel biscuits were served with coffee and tea from at least the nineteenth century. The Dutch name kletskop means bald head, a reference to the cookie's shiny, pitted surface, though the echo of kletsen, to chatter, suits its coffee-table life neatly. Their cinnamon and nutmeg belong to the ordinary spice cupboard of the Netherlands, a quiet inheritance of the seventeenth-century trade routes that made warm spices common in northern baking.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
unsalted butter
Quantity
75g
softened
light brown basterdsuiker or light brown sugar
Quantity
150g
all-purpose flour
Quantity
30g
blanched almonds
Quantity
60g
finely chopped
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
ground nutmeg
Quantity
1 small pinch
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
milk
Quantity
1 tablespoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| unsalted buttersoftened | 75g |
| light brown basterdsuiker or light brown sugar | 150g |
| all-purpose flour | 30g |
| blanched almondsfinely chopped | 60g |
| ground cinnamon | 1/2 teaspoon |
| ground nutmeg | 1 small pinch |
| fine sea salt | 1/4 teaspoon |
| milk | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Two baking trays
- •Parchment paper
- •Teaspoon measure
- •Thin metal spatula
- •Wire cooling rack
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 180C and line two baking trays with parchment. Use parchment, not a bare tray; these cookies are mostly caramel by the end, and caramel has no sympathy for optimism.
- 2
Make the batter
Beat the softened butter and sugar together until smooth, then stir in the flour, almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and milk. The mixture will be thick, grainy, and modest-looking. Trust it. The oven will do the spreading.
- 3
Space the spoonfuls
Drop level teaspoons of batter onto the lined trays, leaving at least 8 centimetres between them. This is the step that decides everything. A kletskop wants to become thin as lace, and if you crowd the tray you'll bake one large argumentative biscuit instead of twenty-four civil ones.
Bake a test cookie first if your oven runs hot or your trays are thin. The batter should spread wide and turn golden at the edges before the centre darkens. - 4
Bake to lace
Bake one tray at a time for 7 to 9 minutes, until the cookies have spread into thin rounds, the edges are deep golden, and the centres are bubbling into little holes. Watch the last minute closely. Pale kletskoppen stay chewy, but one minute too far and the sugar turns bitter.
- 5
Cool until crisp
Let the cookies sit on the tray for 5 minutes before moving them. They will look too soft at first, then firm into crisp lace as the caramel sets. Slide a thin spatula underneath and transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
Chef Tips
- •Chop the almonds finely, but don't turn them to dust. Little pieces give the lace its speckled surface and keep the cookie from becoming only sugar.
- •If you use Dutch basterdsuiker, the texture will be slightly more tender and caramel-rich. Light brown sugar works honestly, but pack it well and break up any lumps.
- •Serve them with coffee, thee, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cookie is thin enough to look fragile, then it snaps cleanly under the teeth.
Advance Preparation
- •The batter can be mixed up to 24 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Let it soften for 15 minutes before scooping.
- •The baked cookies keep for 5 days in an airtight tin. Keep them away from damp air, which steals their crispness quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 13g)
Calories
70 calories
Total Fat
4 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
7 mg
Sodium
25 mg
Total Carbohydrates
8 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
1 g
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