Following my article about St. Nicholas, I am presenting you one of my St. Nicholas Specials. This year special are the Dutch gingerbread cookies – called Speculaas. Upon my boy’s request I have also produced the St. Nicholas Special – ‘Gevulde Speculaas’.
The base of all this beauty is a simple gingerbread spice – the more flavour, the better. Anise, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cardamom, nutmeg, etc. You can either buy a favourite mix and add some of your own to highlight the flavour. You can also create your very own spice mix and use it for any kind of treat, whatever mood you are in for.
This recipe, as some more Dutch cakes I make, is special by its dough consistency. I use here lukewarm milk instead of eggs.
Please note that any of such kind of cookie dough is the best to store in a closed box, in a dark and cold place. Speculaas cookies have a bit more crunch than normal gingerbread. However, you can always add an apple skin and piece of a bread to make sure they stay good (and a bit softer) for longer time.
The filled Speculaas, Gevulde Speculaas in Dutch, is the upgraded cookie dough with a stunning marzipan layer in the middle. Speculaas dough creates indeed a magical smell around your whole kitchen.
You can use special shapes, cutters, molds or stamps of your liking. I am going to present my favourites, of course.
These cookies are made for kids. You can offer Speculaas Cookies and Pepernoten from the age of 2 as they consist of lots of different spice. Gevulde Speculaas is suitable for kids from the age of 3, because of a possible egg white intolerance.
Total Time: 1 hour + 1 hour of chilling The Dough
Shopping List
The Speculaas Dough (Speculaas Cookies and Pepernoten):
500g of plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon of baking powder, sifted
A pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon and ground ginger
½ teaspoon of ground cloves, ground cardamom seeds and anise
A pinch of nutmeg
150g of cane sugar
150g of caster superfine sugar
250g of butter, soft in cubes
80ml of lukewarm milk
The Filling (Gevulde Speculaas):
1 cup of ground almonds, sifted
1 cup of icing sugar, sifted
1+1 whole eggs, separated
A pinch of lemon zest
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Whole almonds to decorate
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