It's Time for Speculaas!

Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger are the main ingredients for a special Dutch treat called "speculaas", with a dash of white pepper thrown in for good measure. The word seemingly originated from the Latin word "speculum", mirror, in reference to the way the goods were prepared: the dough was pressed into a wooden decorated form, turned over and knocked out onto the baking sheet. The cookie now carried a "mirrored" image. In the old days by the end of November, bakers all over the country would initiate a subtle but effective sales strategy by throwing a handful of their speculaas spices in the bread oven's fire. The smoke would carry the wonderful smells into the streets, announcing the beginning of the speculaas baking season. Once you start baking this dough in your own kitchen, you'll know why: it makes the house smell wonderful!

Speculaas is no longer a unique December treat. An industrialized baking process has made speculaas an everyday kind of cookie in the Netherlands and it's available year-round for all to enjoy, even here in the US. As for me, I still wait until the beginning of December before I start baking speculaas, somehow the "once-a-year"-ity of it makes it into such a special occasion.

This year, I opted for two varieties: Gevulde Speculaas (filled with almond paste) and "brokken". Speculaas can be cut out in many shapes, but my favorites are "brokken", chunks. I bake a 1/2 inch high slab of speculaas in the oven until it's ready, and when it's cooled down on the counter, I break it into large chunks. Not pretty and fancy, but a lot easier and just as flavorful! 

Before I start, I make my own mixture of spices. Everybody has a preference for one or more spices in the mix, so feel free to adjust and experiment accordingly. As for me, I am not big on either nutmeg or cloves so barely put in the minimum.

Speculaas Brokken
2 cups (300 grams) self-rising flour*
2/3 cup (125 grams) dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons speculaas spices**
1 stick (125 grams) butter, cold 
5 tablespoons (75 ml) milk, cold
1 egg, beaten

Optional: sliced almonds

Mix the flour, sugar, and spices in a bowl until well integrated. Divide the butter into small pieces and rub into the dry mixture until crumbly, like wet sand. Moisten the mix with a tablespoon of milk at a time, and knead the dough until the butter and the spices are well blended. This will take a bit of kneading as the warmth of your hands will make the butter melt, and together with the milk, form a cohesive dough. Pat the dough into a flat oval, wrap securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate preferably overnight, but at least for four hours. This will allow the spices to thoroughly release all their goodness into the dough.

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If you are baking on a silicone mat or on parchment paper, place the dough on top, cover with the plastic wrap, and roll into an oval shape, about 1/2 inch high (or 3 mm if you are baking cookies). Pull back the plastic wrap, brush the dough with the beaten egg and sprinkle the almonds on top (optional) and softly roll the almonds onto the dough, just enough to where they're stuck.

Move your silicone mat or parchment paper onto the baking sheet, place it on the middle rack in the oven and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes. Check regularly as you want to avoid burning the bottom. Remove when the edges are crisping up (the rest of the speculaas will still be soft) and rest on a cooling rack until lukewarm. Break the oval into chunks and allow them to cool and harden, about another hour. Great with a steaming cup of coffee or a hot chocolate.



* If you don't have self-rising flour, measure out two cups of all-purpose flour and add two heaping teaspoons of baking powder and a large pinch of salt.

** For the spices: start with 1 heaping tablespoon of ground cinnamon. Mix in a 1/4 scant teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon scant ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon cardamom, 1/8 teaspoon mace and 1/8 teaspoon white ground pepper and, if you have it, 1/8 teaspoon of dried orange peel. If you like the flavor of anise, add a 1/8th teaspoon of ground anise to give it a special twist. Smell and decide if you like it. Too much clove? Add in a bit more cinnamon. Prefer more ginger? Feel free to add some more. You are welcome to make it your very own, but make sure you write down the quantities and ingredients so you can replicate your personal recipe. Store in an airtight jar.

If you don't feel comfortable mixing the speculaasmix yourself, try finding them on one of the many online stores that sell Dutch foods.

22 comments:

  1. Very nicely presented. Very quaint and proper looking for a tea party

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  2. I love the idea of cooking a big chunk and breaking it up:) I'm still trying to get my speculaas spices right. I made some pepernoten though that got close to tasting like speculaas!

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  3. Oh my goodness! I'm so happy to have found your blog! My parents were Dutch immigrants and so I grew up eating speculaas and stroopwafels, and went to school with hagelslag sandwiches, etc... I'm in culinary school to become a baker, and want to have my own bakery with a lot of those dutch goodies I grew up with. I was wondering if you had any tips for using the molds, I tried to make windmill speculaas, but had a very hard time getting them out of the mold.

    Maria

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  4. Maria, welcome to the site! Aren't hagelslag sandwiches just the best?! As for the molds....try lining the molds with plastic film before you press in the dough, then placing them in the freezer just long enough for the dough to tighten up. Turn the mold over, whack it on the table and they should fall out. If they don't, or if you'd rather not bang the mold on your work surface, gently tug on the film and you should be able to lift them up without any issue. Let them come to room temp before baking. Hope this helps!

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  5. I grew up in the Netherlands, and I vividly recall my father making us each a wooden mold for spekulaas. They cracked in time of course (even a good carpenter can only do so much for wood that gets in the oven a lot!), but we had nary a problem with the dough sticking, and they were very decorative.

    If wooden molds aren't an option, try rubbing the insides of your molds with coconut butter. I've had good luck with it in the past.

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  6. So happy to find your Blog!

    We are Dykhuis in Canada; Dijkhuis in The Netherlands. My father was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and my mother in Montreal, Canada. So Dad was a "war groom" who joined the Canadian Army and fought as a Canadian in World War II. My mother's first family member came to Canada in 1841 and married a nice French girl (they married in 1845. The French side of the family came to Canada much earlier. They already lived in Quebec City many decades before the Battle of Quebec (also known as The Battle of the Plains of Abraham) which was in September 1759.

    So, we are the Canadian cousins of my Dad's family and our Dutch first cousins live in Holland.

    Finding this site with all the wonderful recipes is a gift! Our Oma always sent plenty of Dutch special treats in time for December 5th.

    I'm going to try out many of your recipes.

    Sue Dykhuis
    Montgreal, Quebec, Canada

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    1. should read Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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    2. Hi Sasha, welcome to the site! Hope you enjoy the stories and the recipes, and hope that they help you connect with your Dutch heritage, it's good to have you in the family!

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  7. It is almost time for Sinterklaas and I was surfing for " gevulde speculaas". I am so happy to have found your recipe, it sounds just like I remembered. I came to the US in my early 20's and have basically been American for 40 years, with no ties left to the home land,other than certain food cravings. I look forward to trying many recipes on your blog. Thank you so much!

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  8. Delighted to find & read your blog today, superb!

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  9. Here I am reading your blog so long after it was written. My mom is full blooded Dutch, however, she never learned to cook from her mother. I think Grandma just didn't want anyone else in the kitchen. I am going to try a few of the recipes here. I have always wanted to learn more about my Dutch cooking. Food is an important part of our heritage.

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  10. Your recipe says to put the flour, sugar, spices and salt together and mix them, but your ingredient list does not specify the amount of salt in there. Mistake?

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    1. Oops....the salt carried over from the self-rising flour instructions. I fixed it!

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  11. Hello, if I can't find mace and dried orange peel, can I skip them? Thank you :)

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  12. Hello....really glad to see this recipe...you mention a stick of butter...what amount is a "stick"...do you mean a 1/4 cup butter? Thanks a lot and have a great Christmas!

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    1. On the top of the page is a tab called What's in a Cup? where you can find measurement conversions. A stick of butter is 114 grams, or half a cup of butter :-) Merry Christmas to you too! Thanks for the question!

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  13. Hi. I’m searching for a recipe for Speculaas. Is the above recipe one that could be rolled into a log, refrigerated overnight and sliced very thinly and baked? My husband is Dutch, he came to the states when he was 7 and remembers his mom making cookies she called Speculaas without the fancy shapes every December 5th. Would the recipe you have for Speculaas Brokken work for either what I described above or rolled out and cut into shapes? If so, how thin would you roll them or slice them? I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. I just want to make my husband happy. Thank you so much in advance!

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    1. Hello Athenak! You're describing speculaas cookies, which can be found here: https://www.thedutchtable.com/2012/10/speculaasjes.html. Thanks for asking, and thank you for making traditional Dutch baked goods!

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  14. I really appreciate the work you’ve put into this site! Thank you

    My brokken turned out lighter in colour (Than your photo and than the stuff back in alsmeer) and, although it is still cooling, Doesn’t seem like it’ll crisp up. It was a Lot of work Getting it to half an inch, maybe I didn’t get it quite thin enough - was a good workout though :). The dough was also very dry When I made it yesterday and took a lot of kneading to Get it to stick together. Any tips?

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    1. Laura, thank you for your kind words! It's a pleasure! As for the brokken, it's hard to say not being there. Any time something is too dry to work with, an extra tablespoon of liquid is not going to hurt the recipe too much. How did it end up tasting? Did it crisp up eventually?

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