(Photo © Kyla Zanardi)
You might think you’re over holiday baking but today I have a recipe you’ll want to make year-round. Spéculoos cookies are a Dutch and Belgian specialty, but they are often served in France, especially with coffee in cafés or restaurants. They are a wonderful cookie to make around Christmastime—your house will smell like the holidays when you are baking these!
I’ve written about speculoos a few times – including these two Dorie Greenspan recipes – they are one of my favourite cookies. I even had a version of my own in In the French kitchen with kids but sadly it was cut (too many recipes, not enough pages). I hadn’t made it for a long time but recently started including it in my holiday baking classes and even made it with my Petits Chefs for their holiday cookie bake and swap. That’s when I was reminded what a really GREAT recipe it is and, because even though it’s kinda sorta gingerbread-y, it’s actually a cookie to enjoy any time of the year. So many people loved baking this recipe in my recent classes that I can’t NOT share it with you! Enjoy!
Spéculoos cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup (113 g/ 8 tablespoons/ 1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
1. In a large bowl, place the flour, spices and baking soda and use a wire whisk to combine.
2. Beat the butter and sugars with electric beaters until smooth and creamy (2-3 minutes).
3. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat until smooth.
4. Using a rubber spatula, add the flour mix and mix gently until the dough is just starting to come together.
5. Tip the dough out onto a surface lined with parchment paper and use your hands to gather it into a disk or ball. Gently knead the dough until it comes together easily (the warmth of your hands will help with this).
6. Divide the dough into three pieces.
7. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll between two sheets of parchment paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch (6 mm). Place the rolled-out dough (still in the parchment paper) in the fridge and roll out the other two pieces of dough in the same way. Refrigerate the rolled-out dough for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to 3 days. At this stage, you can also freeze the dough, tightly-wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 2 months. Simply thaw in the refrigerator before using.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 375˚F.
9. Line two large baking trays with parchment paper.
10. Remove the dough sheets from the fridge and use a 1 1/2-inch cutter (4 cm) to cut out around 15 – 20 cookies from each sheet. You may need to re-roll the scraps after you’ve cut the first 15 or so.
11. Place the cut-out cookies on the parchment-lined baking trays and bake for 9-11 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browning on top and around the edges. They may be a little puffy on top.
12. Take the cookies out of the oven and allow them to cool on the baking trays for 10 minutes.
13. Use an offset spatula to remove the cookies from the trays and place them on a wire cooling rack and allow to come to room temperature.
14. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks (any humidity or moisture will make these lose their crispness).
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Happy (French) Friday and happy baking!
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