Dutch Speculaas

For my Oma's birthday last year I decided to honour my heritage and have a go at baking some traditional speculaas. They were one of my dads favourites and have become favourites for his children and grandchildren as well, so I figure I'll likely be making these again and again and again for the entire family...

Around the time that Jnr Pink arrived, I became addicted to our local Facebook Buy, Swap & Sell page, and one day I came across a traditional wooden speculaa mould so of course I snapped it up!

After much Googling, I decided on this recipe as the easiest 'traditional' recipe I could find. For those too lazy to click on the link (my hats off to you coz thats pretty lazy...) I've included the recipe below.

A note on the level of quick & easiness - I use the wooden speculaa mould which meant that this was definitely not quick. If you don't have a mould and just want to use normal cookie cutters, its fairly quick and easy (but won't look as good! ;-) )

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (or 113g) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (75g) white granulated sugar
3/4 cup (165g) packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 cup (235g) all purpose flour

**made me about 40 speculaas, but it depends on the size of the mould or cookie cutter you're using.

Method:
Step 1: Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Step 2: Cut butter into 1/2 inch cubes and place into a bowl.Add the sugars, baking soda, salt and spices.

Cream the butter and dry ingredients together on medium speed for 30 seconds or until the batter is uniform in colour.

Step 3: Scrape down the sides and add the vanilla extract and egg; beat on medium speed until incorporated.

Step 4: Scrape down the sides again and add the flour; beat on medium speed until incorporated.

Step 5: Split the dough in half, wrap each half in cling wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.

Step 6: Spray the wooden mould with cooking oil (lightly) and then sprinkle flour over it. Break off a handful of dough and use a rolling pin to spread over the mould.

Carefully peel away the dough from around the edges of the mould - a small knife can be helpful here to get the edges. You'll get a feel for how hard to press the dough into the mould as you go along, its a fine line between not pushing enough that the pattern doesn't show, and pushing too hard that you can't get it out of the mould!

Step 7: Turn the wooden mould over and tap the speculaas out onto a sheet of baking paper.

Step 8: Place the baking sheet with speculaas in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 190degrees Celcius.

Step 9: Bake speculaas for 9-11 minutes or until they are golden brown on the edges. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack. They will harden as they cool.

 

They didn't keep their shape/pattern as well as I'd hoped during the baking process, but they are still patterned enough so I'm happy with them. Oma was very pleased with them and said that they tasted wonderful, so I take that as a good indication that the recipe is fairly 'traditionally dutch'.