A Step-By-Step Guide To Making Perfect Speculaas

Since the Christmas season has already arrived, it's time to enjoy the festival with some delicious treats that make the festival special. When it comes to Christmas, nothing beats cookies and their irresistible charm. So, we will look at the speculaas cookies that perfectly capture the essence of the festive season.

It is a favorite of many and you can never go wrong with them. These cookies, which originated in the Netherlands, are also known as Dutch Windmill Cookies and are traditional Dutch cookies. They are delicious, chewy, and packed with warm goodness. So, without wasting any more time, let's get into the step-by-step guide that you need to know to make the perfect speculaas cookies every single time

What Are Speculaas Cookies?

The Dutch speculaas cookies or speculaas, as the cookie is commonly known, are a traditional Dutch cookie. Speculaas are a traditional spiced cookie that was created for the first time in the Netherlands. But apart from the Netherlands, the cookies are also very popular and widely consumed in Belgium.

The speculaas are highly popular during the Christmas season and also during the Sinterklaas season, which is marked on the 5th of December. Sinterklaas is a traditional Dutch holiday but apart from that, it also serves as a common cookie on the Christmas platter in the Netherlands and Belgium. But that doesn't mean you can't find these cookies for the rest of the year. Since these cookies are very loved and popular, they are available for all 12 months of the year.

Their signature flavor comes from the inclusion of various spices depending on the recipe, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom, and white pepper. It is authentically a warm and flavorful cookie with a lovely aroma

History Of Speculaas Cookies

Originally, baked goodies in animal shapes flavored with Speculaas spices were dedicated to the gods to request a bountiful harvest. With the rise of Christianity, baked goods were transformed into saint figurines. The bishop of Myra, commonly known as Saint Nicholas, was beloved for his charitable works for the impoverished and was thus frequently depicted on baked goods.

On Saint Nicholas Day, baked dishes using Speculaas spices are still served. Each baker has his own personal Speculaas spice blend and method for creating baked items with Speculaas Spices. Male and female figurines were once available for people to offer to a suitor or lover as a way of saying, "I love you." You couldn't give a piece of yourself as a gift, but you might give a figurine in your likeness (male or female) as a mark of your affection and a token of your love.

Here's How You Can Make The Perfect Speculaas Every Time

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons speculaas spice mix
• 250 g all-purpose flour
• 150 g brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons of milk, lukewarm
• pinch of salt
• 150 g butter

Method:

• You'll need speculaas spice mix to make the speculaas cookies. Alternatively, you can use pumpkin pie spice, which is a similar spice blend.
• Flour, butter, milk, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and speculaas spice mix are required for the speculaas cookies.
• Make a small well in the center of the flour and baking powder on your work surface or in a dish.
• Add the other ingredients, salt, dark brown sugar, speculaas spice mix, butter, and milk, to the center of the well.
• Combine all ingredients using your hands.
• Make dough out of it. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
• When the dough is finished, roll it out on a floured surface and cut out the cookies with a cookie cutter. Alternatively, if you have a speculaas cookie mold, dust it with rice flour.
• Fill the mold with speculaas dough. Make sure you press it hard to ensure that all of the information is copied to the cookie.
• Cut the edges off. Scrape off the extra dough with a piece of sewing thread or another tiny length of string. Make sure the thread is snugly wrapped around the board, underneath the excess dough on top.
• The excess dough should be rolled off. You'll be left with a cookie mold full of cookie dough.
• Turn the mold over and give it one or more firm taps to allow the cookies to fall out. It may take a few attempts to get this to work, but practice makes perfect, and utilizing rice flour greatly aids in this process.
• If necessary, use a delicate brush to remove part of the rice flour. Bake the cookie for about 15 minutes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• If everything goes well, you will get an outcome that will look like cute little cookies.