For the Soetkoekies

500 g plain or cake flour
250 ml ground almonds
1 tsp (5 ml) bicarbonate of soda
250 g unsalted butter
100 ml oil 
2 C (500 ml) brown or yellow sugar
1 tsp (5 ml) ground nutmeg
1 tsp (5 ml) ground cloves
1 tsp (5 ml) ground cinnamon or mixed spice
1 tsp (5 ml) ground dried ginger
1 egg, lightly whisked or beaten 
1 tsp (5 ml) red bolus / rooi bol
Peanut halves

Preparing the Dough

*preheat the oven on 200ºC
1. Sift the dry ingredients (excluding powdered red food colouring) together and set aside.
2. Beat or whisk the egg and set it aside.
3. In an electric mixer, cream the butter until light, pale and fluffy.
4. Add the oil and egg and mix well.
5. Gradually add the dry sifted ingredients to form a fairly stiff but pliable dough.
6. Use a third of the dough and mix in the red colouring until it has changed colour and set aside.
7. Roll out the remaining dough to a thickness of 5mm.
8. Place little bits or balls of the dyed dough onto the rolled-out dough and roll out again to a thickness of 5mm.
9. Use a cookie cutter to cut into shapes and place a peanut half on the cut-out shape.
10. Place the shaped dough on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
11. Bake at 200ºC for 10 minutes.