Oh my dear readers, finally, oh finally, I am sharing my Spekulatius cookie recipe with you. It makes me very happy to write down this sentence. I meant to post this recipe last December but I never got around to it and I was very disappointed in myself. Now I am very happy and have a smile on my face.
Spekulatius are very traditional German Christmas cookies which are thin and crispy and contain spices such as cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and nutmeg. There are three different kinds of speculoos cookies: spiced cookies that contain a lot of spices; butter speculoos that have more butter than the spiced speculoos; almond speculoos which contain almond flour besides flour and the bottom of the cookies are coated with sliced almonds. Almond speculoos are my favorite. I love the combination of almonds and the subtle taste of cinnamon, clove and cardamon.

When making traditional German Spekulatius wooden handmade molds are used which I adore. Because of my love for speculoos molds  -  in German the mold is called Springerle - I bought one mold at the Christmas market the other day but not for me but for you. I would like to give away this wooden Spekulatius mold (this giveaway is open internationally). The first reader who leaves a comment under this post will receive the Spekulatius mold.
Spekulatius are one of my favorite German Christmas cookies and I love the tradition of using handmade wooden molds. Every time I make Spekulatius cookies it feels very special to me and while the cookies are baking in the oven my home smells delightful and Christmassy.
NOTE: During Christmas season speculoos spice mixes are sold in Germany. I use this speculoos mix. You can also make your own speculoos mix. Mix 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of cardamon, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of clove, 1 teaspoon of very finely grated orange zest, 1 teaspoon of very finely grated lemon zest,  1/2 teaspoon of coriander.
Or send me an Email until December 15th, 2014 and I will send you a sachet of German speculoos spice mix along with a Christmas card.

Makes about 30 cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 100 g unsalted butter (softened)
  • 125 g granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 225 g all-purpose flour
  • 75 almond flour/ ground almonds
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 teaspoons of speculoos spice mix, * see my note above
  • 100 g sliced almonds
  • 3 tablespoons of milk

DIRECTIONS

  • Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix until all ingredients are well combined.
  • Mix flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt and speculoos spices in a separate bowl.
  • Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Knead all ingredients to a dough.
  • Cover the dough into plastic wrap. Let the speculoos dough rest for at least one hour or overnight.
  • Line 2 to 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Sprinkle baking sheets with sliced almonds.
  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C.
  • Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface until 2 mm thick, if the dough is too sticky add more flour .Use 1/3 of the dough at a time.
  • Press the speculoos mold into the dough, trim the excess dough with a knife. If you do not have a speculoos mold you can use a cookie cutter as well or you can also cut the dough into rectangles.
  • Carefully place the Spekulatius on the baking sheets. Brush the cookies lightly with milk.
  • Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes until they are golden in color.
  • Store the Spekulatius cookies in a store-tight container or tin.