Speculaas

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There can be no cookies which remind us more of the festive season than Speculaas. Sometimes spelt Speculoos, these crispy, spicy cookies are loaded with a variety of spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, white pepper, coriander and mace. With a thin layer of vanilla icing, these thin and crispy cookies, with the heady combination of spices and a background of mellow caramel, taste like Christmas, look like Christmas and your house will certainly smell like Christmas when you bake them!

I would argue though, that these cookies are not just for Christmas! They are just as delicious all year round, particularly in winter. 

Quick and easy to make, you can keep them simple and make round cookies or, up your game and use fun shapes such as stars or snowflake shapes. If you have any cookie stamps, you can also imprint fun designs on the cookies. I think Speculaas taste and look particularly delicious when brushed with the vanilla icing.

How to make Speculaas

Collect all your ingredients together:

Spice Mix –

• cinnamon powder
• powdered ginger
• nutmeg powder
• ground cloves
• cardamom powder
• ground white pepper
• coriander powder
• powdered mace

Speculaas dough –

• unsalted butter, at room temperature – see here if you need tips on softening butter
• dark brown sugar
• egg
• plain/all-purpose flour
• cocoa
• spice mix
• baking powder
• fine salt

Vanilla Icing –

• icing sugar
• unsalted butter, melted
• vanilla extract
• milk, as necessary

First make the spice mix:

1. First make the spice mix: measure out all the ingredients and stir to mix thoroughly. Top tip: if you know you will be making more than one batch of these cookies, make up double or triple the mix, ready for next time!
2. Now make the cookie dough: beat the sugar and butter with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. This will take around 5 minutes and you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula half-way through.
3. Add the egg and beat until combined.
4. Now sieve in the flour, cocoa, spice mix, baking powder and salt and stir until roughly combined. Beat on a slow speed until thoroughly mixed.
5. Tip out onto a piece of cling film and wrap up the dough shaping it as you wrap it. Refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour.
6. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to roughly 5mm thick. Cut out as many shapes as you can with your cookie cutter and place them on a baking tray leaving space for expansion when they cook. Re-roll leftover dough, cut out the remaining cookies and add them to the baking tray.
   • NB If you are using a stamp, make sure you use a cookie cutter the same size as the stamp.
7. How to use the cookie stamp:
   • Press the floury side of the cookie onto the stamp.
   • Press down quite firmly onto the stamp to ensure you get a good imprint.
   • Tip out onto the table.
   • Use the cookie cutter to trim and neaten the edges of the cookie, if necessary.
   • Brush excess flour off the top of the cookies, using a pastry brush.
8. Place spread out on a lightly greased baking tray and bake in a preheated oven for 14 – 15 minutes. If I am cooking one tray at a time, I cook them for 14 minutes. If cooking 2 trays at a time, cook for 7½ minutes, rotate the trays and cook for a further 7½ minutes – 15 minutes in total.
9. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack

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Ice the cookies:

1. Add all the icing ingredients to a bowl – start with 2 tablespoons milk and add more, as necessary.
2. Beat well with a balloon whisk. The icing should be quite runny – roughly the thickness of double/heavy cream.
3. Lay the cookies on a rack over a baking tray to catch the drips.
4. Brush the icing onto the cookies with a pastry brush. Leave on the cooling rack to dry.

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.