Spekulaas Biscuits

Name: Spekulaas Biscuits
Prep time: 30 h
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 h 15 min
Yield: 30-40
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: 225g unsalted butter, room temperature; 210g caster sugar; 20g St. Nicholas Spekulaas Spice; ¼ tsp salt; 1 tsp almond extract; 3 tbsp milk; 380g all purpose flour; ¼ tsp baking powder

Easy

1.75hrs

30-40

Spekulaas Biscuits

Rated 4.0 stars by 39 users

Cuisine

European

Servings

30-40 biscuits

Prep Time

1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time

10-15 minutes

The word Spekulaas comes from the Latin word “speculum”, meaning “mirror”. Traditionally, the dough was pressed into wooden, hand-carved moulds, representing “mirror” imprints on them. These imprints would often feature images of St. Nicholas and his life. The biscuits were made to honour him and were traditionally only made for the 6th of December, but these days, they are made during Advent and for Christmas in general.

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter, room temperature
210g caster sugar
20g St. Nicholas Spekulaas Spice
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp almond extract
3 tbsp milk
380g all purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder

Directions

Cream softened butter and sugar until the mixture is a pale white. Add the spice and salt and fold through. Mix in the almond extract and milk a little bit at a time and stir once more.
Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed and the dough is quite firm.
With floured hands, shape the mixture into a ball, place it into a reusable ziplock bag or silicone bag, seal and rest it in the fridge for approximately 1 hour.
Take the dough out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature before baking. Prepare a work surface and rolling pin by flouring them. Also prepare a baking tray, lined with a baking mat.
Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
Roll the dough out thinly (about 5mm) and press into your chosen mould, ensuring to cut the excess dough off around the edges. Alternatively, cookie cutters and biscuit stamps also work.
Place the biscuits on the prepared baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Comments

Made these using my advent calendar spice (just enough – hurrah!) and they were amazing! Subbed the almond essence for vanilla and took Valentina’s tip with rolling into balls and squashing w fork (mine were a little more chunky so needed 20 min total). Absolutely incredible flavour and texture. Im certain they will be demolished in just a few days over cups of tea – bliss.

I used an imprint rolling pin. Very happy with the result and the flavours

Lovely warm and complex spice! The first time I’ve made these biscuits and I think I’ll make them a personal tradition from here on! A bit too sweet for me,even though I used less than the recipe. I did use brown sugar, not sure if that had a bearing. A friend in Sweden makes them to eat with blue cheese- one to try! Seasons Greetings people! Xx

Very tasty, I used the moulds from the shop recommended by Bernadette, and it turned out fantastic. I just had to bake it on 200+ celsius fan forced, so the biscuits kept their details. When I tried 180, it just melted away a bit. I also put the cut out biscuits into the fridge before baking, which also helped to preserve the details.

Robyn you can get the moulds, which are called Springerle, from the Cookie Cutter Shop online. Its an Australian company so you should get your moulds quite quickly.
A tip a German lady gave me was to leave the cookies out on the baking tray over night once pressed with the moulds. This causes the surface of the cookie to dry out a little and so when you cook them the next day, the design is retained more clearly.

Spekulaas Biscuits

Spekulaas Biscuits

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St Nicholas Spekulaas

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