Quest for the Best Speculaas
Like marzipan, speculaas (or speculaasjes as the individual cookies are called) is a cookie highly connected with the feast of Sinterklaas in Holland. The name speculaas has to do with the wooden molds the cookies are made in (we call it a speculaasplank, speculaas comes from the word speculum (mirror). One of the more famous shapes is a windmill of course! Last year we were on a quest for the best spice and dough mix that would amount to the ultimate speculaas taste and texture. But with spring already in site, we still weren’t satisfied with the result. Recently we blew new life in to our speculaas project. This time with a result that has our sincere approval(and that of our friends). So, without further ado, I present to you our ultimate speculaas recipe!
Ingredients for the speculaas spice mix
makes enough for 2-3 recipes of speculaas
6.5 grams of ground cinnamon
2 grams of ground cloves
1.5 grams of grated nutmeg
1 gram of ground white pepper
2 grams of aniseed powder
1 gram of ginger powder
Note: You can buy sachets of ready made speculaas spices. But for the ultimate pleasure in smell and taste, you really must make your own!
Recipe for the speculaas dough
makes about 24 speculaasjes
250 grams of wheat flour
100 grams of dairy butter, cold and in cubes
50 grams of raw cane sugar
50 grams of soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
2 to 3 tbsps of milk
3 tsps of speculaas spices (see recipe)
pinch of salt
fine rice flower for the molds
a speculaas mold made from wood
Making the speculaas
First make the spice mixture. Preheat the oven at 175° C. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and make a supple but not sticky dough. Sprinkle some rice flour in the speculaas molds. Press an amount of dough in the speculaas shapes and cut away the excess dough with a sharp knife. Tap the shapes out of the molds (this is NOT easy, esp. with new molds, they need a bit of help and maybe some light swearing) and lay them on a baking tray. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes and leave to cool on a cooling rack.
Tip: Most people will not have speculaas molds lying around. A very good and equally delicious idea is to make little balls of the speculaas dough (called ‘kruidnootjes’) spread them on a baking sheet and press them down a bit. Or roll out the dough and make nice shapes with cookie cutters and decorate with almonds. Bake like the speculaasjes.
Tip: You can also make a speculaas pie, filled with (home made) almond paste ( (‘gevulde speculaas’). You can make almond paste yourself by combining equal amounts of very finely ground almonds and sugar with a little bit of water. Add some lemon zest for extra flavour. Keep it in the fridge for at least a few days and add egg yolk to the paste before using, so it will be nice and supple to work with.
you can also make little individual speculaas pies