Nutmeg

Belgian brown sugar biscuits

February 10, 2013
0
0 Ratings
  • Prep time 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Cook time 20 minutes
  • Serves 20-25
Author Notes

I love these biscuits with milk or coffee.These are called "Bastogne" in Belgium and can be bought in stores but I try to make myself. The best sugar to use is "Cassonade", a blonde (light) or ambréé sugar that is very hard to find outside Northern France and Belgium. You can substitue it with brown sugar for approximately the same taste. —MarieGlobetrotter

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 7 tablespoons butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 packet vanilla sugar
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon Baking powder
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven on 350F
  2. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Melt the butter and add to the flour mixture. Combine well Now add the egg and stir together. If the dough is to dry, add a few tablespoons of milk. Form a ball with the dough and set in the fridge for about 30 min to an hour
  3. Roll out the dough on a floured surface (about 2 inches). Cut rectangular-shaped biscuits and place them on greaseproof paper.
  4. Bake for about 20 minutes. The biscuits must be quite golden and crispy. Let cool

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Gentjana Balli
    Gentjana Balli
  • suzy
    suzy
  • MarieGlobetrotter
    MarieGlobetrotter
  • Linda Dallas rich
    Linda Dallas rich

15 Reviews

Linda D. September 5, 2019
Is it really 3 teaspoons cinnamon? Sounds like a lot. And how’s much baking powder?
 
MarieGlobetrotter September 5, 2019
Made a couple of corrections but there are 2tsp of cinnamon. I have the recipe in grams (Europe style) so my apologies for the mistakes
 
Linda D. September 5, 2019
Thanks for updating. I’ll test them out this weekend and let you know how they come out! We love the LU version of these cookies.
 
MarieGlobetrotter September 5, 2019
If you can find the Lotus or Bastogne, they are very good. Please note that in Belgium we use a top of brown sugar called Vergeoise and that is only available there. Plus store cookies often have more sugar than home-made ones
 
Leslie H. December 15, 2016
How much baking powder?!?!?
 
MarieGlobetrotter December 15, 2016
1 tsp
 
Baker July 14, 2016
Hi, what is vanilla sugar? And how much is "1 packet vanilla sugar"? And is this something that can be bought in America?
 
MarieGlobetrotter July 14, 2016
Vanilla sugar is something you find everywhere in Europe and in Montreal. It comes in pakets of 8gr. It's basically very fine sugar with vanilla flavor. Here is an image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518uXDe6KtL._AC_UL320_SR188,320_.jpg

The alternative is to use vanilla extract or a vanilla bean
 
Gentjana B. November 15, 2015
Hey Marie,
What do you measure flower and brown sugar with?
 
MarieGlobetrotter November 15, 2015
It's in cups.
 
Gentjana B. November 18, 2015
Thx, I was wondering about how much soda as well. I did them some days ago with 1 tsp. Cookies came out tasty but a little bit hard.
 
suzy December 6, 2014
Hello! I'd like to try your cookies, but am not sure of the weight of the vanilla sugar. Would you clarify this, please? Thanks!
 
MarieGlobetrotter December 6, 2014
Hi there, I would say a 2 teaspoons.You can also use vanilla extract. It's about the same depending on the brand of vanilla extract or essence that you use.I
 
suzy December 6, 2014
Terrific, thanks! I'm looking forward to these...
 
MarieGlobetrotter December 6, 2014
Enjoy. Also, here is what the store-bought Bastognes look like http://www.tabledescalories.com/photos/aliments/4082.jpg
I just prefer to make them myself