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Speculaas biscuits are delicious spiced Dutch biscuits traditionally served around Christmas time. I enjoyed these very much, they are perfect with a cup of tea.

Step by step recipe below and list of ingredients at the end of the post!

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Beat the softened butter and brown sugar together until soft.

In a separate bowl, mix the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter/sugar mix.

Stir the speculaas spices (ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground white pepper, ground ginger, and ground cardamom) through the flour and sift this onto the butter/sugar mixture (you will see that the list of ingredients for the speculaas spice mix at the end of the post makes a very large quantity, I did not use the amounts listed, I just eyeballed the quantities).

Stir until combined. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes (recipe says to chill overnight but I did not wait that long).

Pre-heat the oven to 175°C.

Roll the dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap or baking paper to about 1 cm thick.

Lightly beat the egg with the egg yolks and brush over dough. Press some blanched almonds into the dough all over the top.

Bake until dry and crunchy, about 40 minutes, but as every oven is different keep an eye on it and lower the temperature if it looks like it is getting too dark before being cooked through.

Cool on a wire rack and then cut the cooked dough into pieces.

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Speculaas Biscuits

From The Great New Zealand Baking Book, copyright © Michel Louws from M&M Food & Drink

Makes: 1 block | Prep time: 15 minutes, plus chilling | Cook time: 40 mins | Skill level: 1 (easy)

Ingredients

Speculaas spice mix

• 8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cardamom

Dough

• 125 g unsalted butter
• 400 g brown sugar (see note adjacent)
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 115 ml water
• 1 tsp speculaas spice mix (see above)
• 625 g white (pastry/cake) flour

Topping

• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• handful of blanched almonds (optional)

Method

Speculaas spice mix: combine this lot and store in a ziplock bag or airtight container. (Try adding some to a wintery game or pork stew, dust over your apple sauce or use some over a bowl of granola!)

Anyway, the dough: make it the night before, as a 12-hour rest improves the baking qualities. It can be shaped into the famous windmills (this is a rather thin cookie, though nice), but, for me, the best is speculaas ‘brokken’ – the same dough but rolled out quite thickly, then brushed with egg wash and baked at a moderate temperature for quite a long time so that it becomes dry, crunchy and crisp.

So, beat butter and sugar together until soft. In a separate bowl, mix baking powder and bicarbonate of soda with water and add to the butter/sugar mix.

Now stir the speculaas spice mix through the flour and stir this into the other mixture until combined. Roll into a log, cover in plastic wrap and chill overnight in the fridge.

Next day, take out of the fridge nice and early so it can get to a manageable temperature (say, kitchen temperature). Pre-heat oven to 175°C.

Roll out between two sheets of plastic wrap or baking paper to 1 cm thick and, say, 10 cm x 10 cm big, or the size of your baking tray – you decide.

Lightly beat egg with egg yolks and brush over dough. If you want to go fancy, press some blanched almonds into the dough all over the top. Bake until dry and crunchy, about 40 minutes, but as every oven is different keep an eye on it and lower the temperature if it looks like it is getting too dark before being cooked through.

Cool on a wire rack, then sit down, grab a cuppa and eat a whole block, scattering crumbs as you go!

Note

The sugar we use in Holland is ‘basterdsuiker’, which you cannot get outside Holland. It’s a mix of fine caster sugar with a dark syrup to give a slightly moist, soft caramel like sugar. Try different sugars until you find the one you like best!

Where to buy the book:

Bookreps New Zealand

Whitcoulls

Paper Plus