Speculaas (Dutch Spiced Cookies)
Photo: DGH22, CC BY-SA 4.0
Speculaas is the spiced biscuit the Dutch bake all year, but most of all for Saint Nicholas on the 5th of December. The dough is pressed into a carved wooden board, a speculaasplank, so each cookie comes out with a saint or a windmill in relief. Cinnamon leads the spice mix, and resting the dough for two days in the fridge deepens it noticeably. Serve them with tea.
Instructions
Beat the butter, brown sugar, salt and speculaas spices together until you have a soft, even mass.
Stir in the beaten egg and both flours, and mix until the dough is soft and holds together. If you like a stronger spice flavor, rest the dough in the fridge for 2 days before shaping.
Dust a speculaas mold with flour so the dough does not stick. Press a piece of dough firmly into the mold, then trim off the excess with a string or a knife held flat against the board.
Turn the mold over and rap it hard, face down, on the worktop so the cookie drops out. Lay the cookies on a well-buttered baking sheet with room between them, since they spread as they bake.
Bake in a 170°C oven for about 20 minutes for small cookies, and 30 minutes or more for larger ones. Hot cookies are hard to judge, so take one out and let it cool. If it smells toasty and is crisp, the batch is done.
Let all the cookies cool completely on the sheet or a rack. Serve with tea or hot chocolate.
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