Cookie’s Kitchen: Speculaas

Hello me friends. With Sinterklaas on his way to the Netherlands me will be sharing a yummy cookie recipe for Speculaas. These yummy cookies are really great with a cup of tea, some coffee with whipped cream and ofcourse with a big, tall glass of cold milk…mmmm! Me love Speculaas-cookies, because of the different, rich spices used in the special Speculaas spices mix. Me will share it with you.

Cookie spices
In The Netherlands you can buy jars with already premixed Cookie and Speculaas spices. If you are not living in The Netherlands you can also make your own. It very easy, me will tell you what you need:
40 grams of Cinnamon
10 grams of Nutmeg
5 grams of Cloves
5 grams of Cardamom
5 grams of White Pepper
5 grams of Coriander seed
5 grams of Ginger (powdered)
5 grams of Aniseed
5 grams of Mace (in Dutch called Foelie)
Mix it all together and you have the most yummy cookie spices ever! You do not need the whole mixture of spices for one batch of Speculaas cookies though. Just add some until you think it tastes yummy!

Cookie batter
To make Speculaas cookies you need the following ingredients:
250 grams of self-rising flour
150 grams of dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons of the Cookie & Speculaas spices
100 grams of ice-cold butter
3 tablespoons of milk (om nom nom)

Put the flower in a sieve and shake it gently above a mixing bowl so you won’t have any lumps in it. Then you mix it with a little salt, the sugar and the Cookie spices. Use two knives to cut the butter into the mixture, so you will get little dough crumbs. Quickly knead the dough with cool hands into a smooth ball of dough. Put in the milk when the dough is too dry. Wrap the dough in plastic foil and put it in the fridge for at least one hour.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius (that is 347 degrees Fahrenheit) and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. Use some flour to ease the rolling. Roll out the dough until it is one to two centimetres thick.

Big cookies or small ones
You can bake the whole dough at once for 35 minutes and let it cool before you break it in big chunks. But you can also use a cookie cutter and make all kinds of Speculaas cookies. Like hearts and gingerbread men and such. Those are baked in 30-35 minutes also. Just have fun with it.

Tradition: wooden shapes
The traditional Speculaas cookies are shaped in a wooden shelf. The shapes of the cookies are carved into it and then the batter is put on it. Push in some dough and mold it into the right shape. After that you carefully take out the figurines and bake them. It is funny but this is the best way to get the gorgeous windmills and other details into the Speculaas cookies.



Well… me hope you love this episode of Cookie’s Kitchen. If you decide to bake Speculaas cookies please let me know how you liked them. And ofcourse show me some pictures! Om nom nom.