I’ve been wanting to add SPECULOOS (also called SPECULASS or SPECULATIUS) to my list of biscuits recipes for years, and even though Christmas has just passed, thanks to a weekend spent at home, I’ve put in the effort and – what can I say – how good they are! Speculoos are crunchy and spiced cookies, typical of all of central and northern Europe, originally prepared for Saint Nicholas and for Christmas. In the north you’ll find them large, with bas-relief decorations obtained with special carved wooden molds. But you can prepare them with all the molds you want and have fun with the decorations.
Ingredients for about 50 biscuits
- 275 g of 00 flour
- 200 g of dark brown sugar (you can use half demerara brown sugar and half soft brow/Muscovado)
- 112 g of butter
- 1.5 tablespoons of cinnamon, or better yet mixed spices that you can also make yourself (cinnamon, cardamom, ginger,
- cloves, nutmeg, star anise, coriander)
- 35 g of milk
- 7.5 g of baking soda
The beauty of this recipe? It almost makes itself.
After weighing the ingredients, put the sugar, cinnamon (or spice mix), baking soda and milk in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix gently to combine the ingredients. At this point add the butter and then the flour and knead until you obtain an elastic and uniform shortcrust pastry dough. Wrap it in a cloth or cling film and leave to rest in a cool place (or in the fridge) for an hour.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it is about 3 mm thick (because the biscuits will rise in the oven) and cut out your biscuits using your favourite cookie cutters.
Place them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and bake at 150-160°C for about 12-15 minutes. The biscuits will first swell due to the baking soda, then they will deflate and become a little colored, be careful to take them out before the edges colour too much. Let them cool well and then decorate them, if you like, with the icing (I recommend the not cooked one, find the recipe here on FoodMeTender).
Per questi biscotti ho scelto cavallini a dondolo e tanti cuori e sono dedicati alla prima figlia della mia amica Valentina, nata letteralmente mentre impastavo e decoravo questi biscotti, suoi gemelli di burro e zucchero 🙂
