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Makes 30 two-inch cookies
5 tablespoons butter, softened
2 to 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups dark-brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup port, Madeira, or sweet sherry
1/2 cup blanched almonds, finely chopped or pulverized in a blender or with a nut grinder plus 15 whole blanched almonds, split lengthwise into halves.
1 egg white combined with 2 teaspoons of water and beaten to a froth.

Preheat the overn to 350 degrees. With a pastry brush spread 1 tablespoon of the softened butter evenly on two large baking sheets. Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt together onto a strip of wax paper and set aside.

In a deep bowl, cream the remaining 4 teaspoons of butter and the dark-brown sugar together, mashing and beating them against the sides of the bowl until they are thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, then add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Beat in the wine and the chopped almonds.

With your hands vigorously knead the dough in the bowl until it can be gathered into a somewhat firm, compact ball. If teh dough then seems too soft, knkead in up to 1/4 cup more flour, adding it a tablespoon or so at a time.

On a lightly floured surface, roll teh dough into a rough circle about 1/4 inch thick. With a cookie cutter or the rim of a glass, cut it into 2-inch rounds. Arrange the rounds about 1 inch apart on the buttered baking sheets. Then gather the scraps of dough into a ball, roll it our into another circle, and cut out rounds as before.

Press a blanched almond half lightly into the center of each soetkoekie and brush the entire top surface of the cookie with the beaten egg white-and-water mixture.

Bake the soethoekies in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes, or until they are crisp and firm to the touch. With a wide metal spatula, transfer teh cookies to a rack to cool. The cookies will keep up to 2 weeks in a tightly covered jar, or tin. Makes 30 two-inch cookies