Taai-taai

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small saucepan
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Rolling pin
• •Cookie cutters or cardboard templates
• •Baking trays
• •Pastry brush
• •Airtight tin

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the honey

   Put the honey, basterdsuiker, and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth, then take it off the heat. Do not boil it hard; you want a warm syrup that smells of honey, not a pot of angry caramel.

2. 2

   Mix the dough

   In a large bowl, stir together the rye flour, plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, crushed aniseed, speculaaskruiden, and salt. Pour in the warm honey syrup and mix with a sturdy spoon, then knead briefly by hand until you have a firm, sticky brown dough. It will look too stiff. Good. Rye is slow company.

   Do not rescue the dough with extra water too soon. After resting, the rye flour will take up moisture from the honey and the dough will become easier to handle.
3. 3

   Rest overnight

   Wrap the dough tightly or press it into a covered bowl and leave it at cool room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. This rest is not decoration. It lets the honey and rye settle into each other, and it gives the anise time to travel through the whole dough.

4. 4

   Shape the figures

   Heat the oven to 175C / 350F and line two baking trays with parchment. Dust the table lightly with flour and roll the dough about 8 to 10mm thick. Cut Sinterklaas figures, horses, hearts, or simple rectangles, then set them on the trays with a little space between them. Brush lightly with beaten egg, just enough to give the surface a quiet shine.

5. 5

   Bake gently

   Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the figures have puffed slightly, the edges are set, and the tops have turned deep honey-brown. They should still yield a little when pressed in the centre. If you bake them until crisp in the oven, they will be hard later, and taai-taai is chewy, not a punishment.

6. 6

   Tin and wait

   Let the cookies cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then move them to a rack. Once fully cool, put them in an airtight tin and leave them at least overnight before eating. The texture settles from firm to stubbornly chewy, which is the whole argument of the dish.

Chef Tips

• •Use rye flour. All wheat flour will make a softer spice cookie, pleasant enough, but it will not have the dark grain and proper chew that the name demands.
• •Crush the aniseed just before mixing. Ground anise from an old jar tastes like a memory of licorice; freshly crushed seed gives taai-taai its clean December scent.
• •If you do not own Sinterklaas cutters, make paper templates or cut rectangles. The old koekbakkers sold figures because children love a face, but the dough does not object to geometry.
• •If the cookies turn too hard, put a slice of fresh bread in the tin for a few hours, then remove it. The honey will borrow back a little moisture. Leave the bread in too long and you invite trouble.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can rest 12 to 24 hours before shaping; keep it covered so the surface does not dry out.
• •The baked cookies are best after at least one night in a tin and keep well for about two weeks.
• •For a Sinterklaas evening, bake them one or two days ahead. This is one of the rare holiday tasks that rewards being done early.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 40g)