Spekulatius: the delicious shortcrust biscuits
The word Speculaas in The German language known as Spekultius is a type of shortcrust biscuits that are spiced, which is traditionally baked for consumption during the St Nicholas Feat held in Netherlands, Belgium and also around the time of Christmas mostly in the southern and western part of Germany. They are very thin, caramelized, crunchy and even slightly browned. They also have some image or some figure often relating to the traditional stories describing St. Nicholas being stamped on the front side of the cookie before they are baked and the back remains flat.
The Speculaas dough usually does not rise much. The Belgian and Dutch versions of this is baked with light brown sugar along with some baking powder. But the German Spekulatius makes use of baker’s ammonia as the leavening agent. There are few spices like cinnamon, ginger, white pepper, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves used in the Speculaas and they are the Mediterranean, Indian and Indonesian spices. Initially, the Speculaas were made of Frisian flour and spices. Also, the name Speculaas was coined for the Belgian wheat flour cookies which hardly had any spices. Today, most of the Speculaas versions available are made of wheat flour, butter, brown sugar, and spices. Some of the varieties also make use of some almond flour and also include some almonds fixed at the bottom.
For the dough butter, combine and beat the sugar and spices. After this, the flour and leavening agents are mixed separately and then added to the mixture. Bakers make sure they do not over work the dough and so that it will rise slightly. Then the dough is stored in a cool place overnight to give the spices time to permeate the dough and add that extra flavor.
Name origin
There are numerous interpretations of the birth of the name Speculaas. It may have been derived from the Latin word speculum which means mirror. This refers to the images which are cut in the form of a mirrored bas-relief into a stamp(wooden) and is used to decorate the speculaas. Another possible origin is from the Latin word speculator referring to a bishop. Also, another possibility is the Dutch word for spices Specerij.
Spread and paste variant
There were several Belgian companies by the year 2007 who started marketing a paste variant of speculoos which is now available worldwide under different brand names like Cookie Butter, Speculla, Biscoff spread. In the form of a spreadable Speculoos cookies, it has a caramelized flavor and a gingerbread like color which is similar to peanut butter. It has a consistency which ranges from being creamy to granular or sometimes crunchy. This spread is made of 60% crushed speculoos cookies along with some vegetable oils.
Workers of the Low Countries usually make a sandwich in the morning with butter and speculoos cookies. It would eventually develop into a spread-like consistency by lunchtime.
Speculaas
These shortcrust biscuits which are spiced originated from Netherlands and are available in various varieties in several parts of the Europe. The speculaas in Dutch are usually cake-like whereas in Belgium they are heavily spiced cookies. The German speculaas are also somewhat cookie-like but less spicy. The various spices used like cloves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper were all available only until the 17th century which was provided by the Dutch East India Company.
These cookies are usually prepared during the St. Nicholas day. Even today as a part of the tradition, children put up shoes by the chimney before they go to bed. The well-behaved kids are given Speculaas cookies in their shoes. Speculaas are an essential item to serve at the feast of St. Nicholas and are also popular during the Christmas season.
The primary ingredients used are cardamom, butter, cloves, nutmeg, flour, pepper, sugar, and ginger.
The optional ingredients include baking powder, salt, lemon zest, almond flour, and egg.
You will find three types of Spekulatius cookies, and they are:
Spice Spekulatius (Gewürzspekulatius): This is one of the most common type of Spekulatius cookie which is available. It derives its taste from the spices like cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom.
Almond Spekulatius (Mandelspekulatius): in this cookie, the bottom of the cookie is almond coated. They are also called as Mandel-Kichelchen.
Butter Spekulatius (Butterspekulatius): a kind of Spekulatius cookie which is made with an enormous amount of butter.
Recipe for the Speculaas
The following ingredients are required:
- 1 1/4 cups of sugar
- 4 1/4 cups/500 grams of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoonof baker’s ammonia
- Two large fresh eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 7 ounces/200 grams of butter
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- One tablespoon/about 10 grams of vanilla sugar
Follow the given instructions to make delicious Speculaas.
- Firstly, in a large bowl, cream the granulated sugar and vanilla sugar with the butter until they are well combined.
- After this beat in the eggs, slowly one at a time.
- Now sift or mix the flour with the baker’s ammonia or baking powder, cinnamon, salt, cardamom, and cloves.
- Then Stir this into the creamed mixture until a stiff dough forms.
- Form the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate this for 2 or more hours. Keeping it overnight is the best.
- Now oil and flour a Spekulatius mould. Tap out all the excess flour after this.
- After that roll a golf ball size piece of dough between your hands which are lightly floured into an egg shape.
- Press the dough into the mould and fill all the crevices.
- Using a sharp knife or a piece of the kitchen twine cut off the excess dough. This way the dough will flush into the mould.
- Tap the mould onto the counter to release the cookie. You can use a sharp knife to start the release of the cookie.
- Now carefully place them on a cookie sheet and repeat with the rest of the dough.
- If this process becomes hectic, just use your favorite cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.
- Now bake it in an oven which is heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes, or until the cookies brown slightly.
- You can decorate these cookies like those conventional sugar cookies, but make sure the old-fashioned mould prints do not get overshadowed. Also, the delicate flour of the dough should not be masked.
You can include this recipe the next time you’re throwing a party or for a family get together. Your guests will love it for sure!