Speculaas are a traditional Dutch cookie, made with a mix of spices and almonds. I’ve tweaked the methodology on Maureen’s original recipe to make it easier to cut thin slices, resulting in a crisp biscuit that keeps well for a couple of weeks (if they last that long!).
I now make the speculaas in two ways – as a roll and cut cookie, and as a log cookie, which is sliced and baked. Here’s my reworked recipe…
- 500g (31/3 cups) plain (all purpose) flour
- 250g (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 250g (1¼ cups) brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground anise seed
- 100g (1 cup) flaked almonds
- 2 large (59g) eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla essence (we used homemade)
Method 1: Roll and Cut Cookies
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices. Add the butter and rub it in until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla and work the mixture together to form a dough (I use my hands to do this). Refrigerate the dough for several hours or overnight.
3. Remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to soften slightly. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F (or 160C/320F with fan).
4. Tear off two large sheets of parchment paper. Place half the dough between the two sheets, and using using a rolling pin, roll to a thickness of approximately 3mm (about an eighth of an inch). Gently peel off the top sheet of parchment, and scatter half the flaked almonds over the dough. Replace the parchment paper, and roll gently over the top to flatten the almonds into the dough.
5. Leaving the two sheets of parchment in place, flip the dough over, so the almonds are now on the bottom, and remove the top sheet of parchment. Using sharp cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes and gently transfer the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining dough.
6. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until lightly browned and allow to cool on a wire rack before serving or storing in an airtight container. The baked cookies also freeze very well.
Click here for a printable version of this recipe
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Method 2: Log Cookies
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices. Add the butter and rub it in until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla and work the mixture together to form a dough (I use my hands to do this). Add the flaked almonds and very gently work them into the dough. It’s impossible to do this without crushing some of the almond flakes, but try to keep as many intact as possible, while still ensuring that they’re worked evenly through the dough.
3. Divide the dough into four, and shape each piece into a log, approximately 4cm (1½”) in diameter. Roll each log in a sheet of parchment, and put it in the fridge to chill for a few hours until firm. The logs can also be frozen for future baking.
4. Remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to soften for a few minutes. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F (or 160C/320F with fan). Line baking trays with parchment paper.
5. Slice the cold log into thin cookies, about 3mm/1/8” thick, and lay them out on the parchment lined trays.
6. Bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned, and allow to cool on a wire rack before serving or storing in an airtight container. The baked cookies also freeze very well.
Click here for a printable version of this recipe
What a wonderful spicy crisp biscuit recipe Celia. They must fill your home with a lovely aroma when they are baking.
:-) Mandy
Oh, Celia… you have NO idea for how long I’ve been keeping a recipe for speculaas in my files promising myself I would bake them “next week”
shame on me!
THe ONLY thing that’s been holding me back is my tiny electric oven, but after your wonderful post today, I simply MUST make them soon
The cookies must taste great! I think the almonds must give them a wonderful flavor. Do they taste similar to gingerbread or German lebkuchen?
Glad your “mystery” bug was identified!
I would eat those for BREAKFAST!
The almond and spices combo sounds like it would make your kitchen smell like heaven.
I’m loving dough rolls that can be frozen for later. Nothing like whipping out a roll and having fresh warm cookies 15 minutes later!
I love this type of biscuit. Both versions look good – is there any noticeable difference between them when they’re cooked, other than the placement of the almonds? I guess which version you make depends on how confident you are that you can slice thinly and evenly.
Mandy, they do smell wonderful, especially when we open the cookie jar!
Sally, Maureen’s recipe is quite forgiving, and I think it would be fine in your tiny oven, although you’d probably need to bake several batches. Or you could make a few logs and just bake one? :)
Manuela, I find them very addictive, and can only keep a few in the cookie jar at a time! They’re not particularly gingery – all the other spices seem to balance that out. And yes, how clever is our friend Moo to know what our mystery bug was! :)
Suelle, great question, because there is a bit of a difference between the two methods. The slice and bake log cookies result in a crisp biscuit, whereas the rolled and cut cookies tend to be slightly more chewy in texture. As you say, it’s probably because I can’t quite roll them out as evenly as I can slice them!
Maz, you know you would be welcome to breakfast at our place anytime! :)
Claire, I now have in my freezer frozen logs of speculaas, world peace cookies and shortbread. They’re wonderful, particularly when I need a quick gift!
I love speculaas! They are so good with a cup of tea with the lovely spices. It turns any type of regular tea into a chai :P
I love Speculaas, but never made it. Yum, yet another recipe to try out for honey! It’s great that you’ve made it easy too, by mixing it by hand and slicing it.
I remember the 1st time that honey and I made chocolate chip cookies….we were still studying and spent 1 hour creaming the butter with hand-held beaters..looks like we won’t be having that problem with your recipe and the kitchen aid 8)
One of my favourite biscuits of all time. I have a great weakness for Anna’s Swedish biscuits too and Speculaas remind me of them a lot.
On a nerdy note, I find Celia, that when I do log type cookies I always end up with one flat edge, where the dough has rested in the fridge, have you thought up a clever way round the flat edge syndrome. I was thinking maybe, slight hysterical giggle here as this sounds a bit like a Blue Peter moment, of sticking toilet roll middles together to make a tube and then putting the wrapped dough inside…..
Oh, these look great Celia. I love the spices. I’ve hardly ever done cookies, the closest being muesli slices that I cut after baking. Thanks for all the instruction on the two methods – so it can be nice and flexible. Craig
These sound lovely. I love all the combination of spices. Team that up with a steaming cup of chai right now and I think I would be a happy woman!
I can smell it! I can smell it!
Lorraine, Brydie, it is a little reminiscent of chai tea! :)
Soy, no mixer required for these – they’re all made by hand! :)
Jo, the only suggestion I’ve ever read is that you should roll the log a quarter turn after each slice. I don’t bother – the flat bottom doesn’t really bother me..but half toilet roll holders are a nice idea! :)
Craig, they’re very homely cookies. I actually end up making both at the same time often – I cut out shapes first, then shape the leftover dough into a log and stick it in the fridge for slicing later!
Cosmo, truly, they smell wonderful! :)
After eating all cookies gifts our friends gave us during the holiday, I develope serious addiction in spiced cookies. I need to try this recipe. It looks really simple and sounds delicious :)
Yum! We can more easily buy the Belgian Speculoos. There is even a paste made out of them like Nutella. Don’t think it has one healthy ingredient in it – so yummy though. I also tasted speculoos ice-cream this summer.
Now about to make carrot cake for French friends for afternoon tea. They think it is exotic. You can now buy Philadelphia cream cheese at our supermarket but the Tim Tams have sadly gone.
Hello Celia!
Your speculaas looks splendid but also does mine. We also, here in Belgium & The Netherlands celebrate Sinterklaas! You will also read about what this means to us, Belgians! It is a recipe from my grand mother!
Here is my link:
http://sophiesfoodiefiles.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/sophies-festive-speculaas/
I also have a recipe to make your own speculaas spices.
Celia-
I have a press (cookie? butter?) that I use on log/sliced cookies. It gives them a special look and eliminates the ragged edges- and you use it AFTER they are baked, still slightly puffy on the sheet.
These sound so good- they are my NEXT cookie!
Another nice cookie to try – and this one looks easier than a lot of them. From the looks of the baked cookie, I thought it must have chocolate – but no, just spices and brown sugar to color it.
Thanks C for more cookie motivation.
Speculaas are so delicious but I’ve never thought of making my own. I love crunching on the almonds the most!
Speculaas are very much on my to make list. We had some wonderful ones when we visited Amsterdam last year and I already have a couple of good recipes, but now have yours too – and a reminder to get on with it!
Plus I have a cute little windmill biscuit cutter that is just right for the purpose …
Thanks Celia!
hopeeternal
‘Meanderings through my Cookbook’
http://www.hopeeternalcookbook.wordpress.com
Tes, it’s really a very easy recipe. I’ve even made them without the almonds, and they’ve still been delicious!
Anna, love that the French find carrot cake exotic! :)
Sophie, your speculoos look delicious!
Heidi, that’s a clever way to make sliced cookies look like cut ones! :)
Doc, the cookies are very heavily spiced, but surprisingly none of the spices are particularly overpowering…
Helen, they’re very easy to make, and even easier to eat!
Hope, I’ve never been able to make the little cutters work. I suspect this recipe might be a bit soft to hold all the fine features of the cutters..
Yum! I love speculaas, although haven’t tried making them before. Anything with spicy goodness and I’m there! Thanks for the recipe, Celia :)
I’ve seen these recently – I think someone wrote about them and was Freshly Pressed. Your post was much better than that one. They look excellent.
I actually haven’t heard of these before! Anything with spice is delicious though, and the anise is great in the mix. I have an answer for the flat-bottom-biscuit-blues, you just roll the logs tightly, then stand it upright in a glass in the fridge to chill. No flat bottom. Easy peasy!
Flat bottoms run in my family, do you think I would fit in a glass in the fridge?
Chris, this might be an easy one for your small girl to make – no mixers involved! :)
Deb, thank you! :)
Chef, great idea re the logs, but how do you stop them flattening out when you cut them? Do you do the quarter turn each slice thing?
Celia, if you do as I do and forget your log in the fridge for hours, it will be so hard it will not dent at the bottom no matter what knife you use on it!
Heidi – So that’s the key for using stamps on biscuits…do it when you take them out of the oven! I must try that. My stamped shortbread at christmas were a complete failure.
Celia & Heidi – thanks for the helpful information about how to use the press. I have seen cutters that leave a picture impression but they tend to be cartoon characters for children to use. I expect that these would be best used after cooking while still warm too. I would love to find cutters/stamps with non childish patterns/pictures. My windmill cutter is just an outline so I am hoping it will work on cold dough.
hopeeternal
Hi Celia and Joanna, I tend to leave my dough in the fridge for ages so it really firms all the way through. A turn to the log is good if you’re a bit heavy handed with the slicing too, but try a gentler sawing motion if you can. Thanks for the tip about stamping after baking!
Vix, you made me laugh – the rolls always need just a little while to soften when they come out. You should try cutting them straight out of the freezer (I’m impatient, but even I’ve learnt not to do that anymore..). :)
Hope, I think there is some special skill in moulding dough before baking! I always look at Scottish shortbeads – the round ones that they make in lovely wooden moulds – and I have no idea at all how they ever get the dough out!
Chef, thanks for the tip! I find a long, thin-bladed knife helpful as well!
Think I can help with the Shortbread mould query, Celia. The mould doesn’t go into the oven. I have a round one with a thistle picture but it is plastic so obviously cannot be baked. You press the mixture well into it and then turn it out onto a flat tin before baking. I never find it sticks and the mixture does not spread in the oven either.
h/e
Thanks Hope! I’ll look out for the plastic moulds!
these are FANTASTIC Celia! thank you so much. they are light and crunchy (i made roll & cut) and despite the flat bottoms – which I don’t trouble over – they were a huge hit.
I have become a huge fan of the roll log in the freezer – I can make them during the weekend or after dinner when I have more time, but simply bake them whenever we want biscuits. I am a total convert.
Currently we have world peace, speculaas and shortbread at the ready – the family are MOST appreciative!!!any more ideas????
Anne, thank you so much for trying them out! I’m quite hooked on these – I keep pulling rolls out of the freezer and baking them up.
I love frozen logs – at last count I had about ten in the freezer! I do have one more that I make regularly – will try and get it written up soon! :)
Oooh lovely. My mum is dutch and we love speculaas. When I was last in Holland I bought a number small containers of the special spice mix that they use in these biscuits it smells amazing. I am looking forward to trying this recipe too. Thanks my sister and I love your food blog.
Claire: I have heard there is a special spice mix for Speculaas. I wonder if you could tell me what it is called (in Dutch), please. I’d like to look out for it when I next go to the Netherlands (or possibly might be able to get it in Belgium?)
Thank you
hopeeternal
Hi hopeeternal,
The name of the product is “Koek en Speculaaskruiden”.
You can buy it here at the dutch shop see this link:
http://www.dutchstore.com.au/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=68&osCsid=d3794724b64d3d9b0c1c9ca6681bfe56.
Cheers
Claire
Thank you Claire – the info is much appreciated.
I am glad to know as well that I don’t have to go abroad to buy the “Koek en Speculaaskruiden” (which means I won’t have to try to pronounce it either!!)
Best wishes
hopeeternal
… whoops – I have just realised that your link is to an Aussie site and I live in the UK. Never mind. I will try online here – its a good idea!
h/e
Celia,
Just thought I’d let you know that I made these yesterday, and I think it’s a very good cookie – I look for low sugar cookies (don’t give a damn about the butter – god gave me a ‘pass go’ card), and anything with 3 cups of flour and only a bit more than 1 cup sugar is LOW. Nice.
I made the logs – think next time I’ll do only 2 logs per batch for a large cookie. I love the consistency of the dough, and the way you can keep gently turning it over in the bowl until at last it gets the idea and forms the nice dough. I used the food processor to combine the butter and flour mix – worked well (of course, I have nothing to compare to, so …). And with all those spices, I thought I’d have a really spicy cookie, but my impression on tasting was a very subtle spice flavor – I subbed cardamom for the anise – did I miss something good?
Very nice cookie, Celia – and I think it cuts beautifully as a log cookie – it’ll go on our short list. Many thanks.
Doc, thanks for trying these and taking the time to let me know how they went – delighted you liked them! My friend Maureen is very clever indeed to invent this recipe! I always think they’re a bit of a breadmaker’s cookie too, given the way you work the dough together by hand.
Like you, I’m always surprised how subtle the spices are, especially given the large quantity (8 teaspoons!). I’ve never tried it with cardamom, but it sounds like a nice sub, although the ground anise seed is quite unusual – this recipe is the only time I ever use it! :)
Doc, I’ve also found the logs freeze well, which makes the cookies an easy standby! Thanks again for testing them out! :)
[…] added after publishing: for a great take on speculas, jump here to see Celia’s version, that includes thinly sliced almonds. From what I’ve been […]