Dutch Speculaas Cookies (With Slivered Almonds on Top)

Submitted by kiwidutch

"Taken from a little community cookbook "Cooking on Clogs" that has some great family recipes compiled by Dutch ladies especially for when they pined for typical Dutch recipes and treats that were not available to them shop-bought when they emmigrated to other countries. I like the fact that these cookies don't just specify the vague ingredient "speculaas kruiden" (spices) but actually tell you how to make the spice mix from scratch. Each region and many local bakers within regions had their own, often highly prized and highly secret mixture of spices,and competition between then to have the most popular was fierce. These differ from my other Speculaas recipe in that they contain aniseed and ginger in the mix, and also that they do not contain ground almonds within the cookie mixture, but feature slivered almonds on the top so they are more like the giant decorative speculaas that you will find in Dutch shops from late November in the run up to Sint Nicolas on December 5th. ZWT REGION: The Netherlands."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 12
• Yields: 40 cookies

ingredients

• 709.77 ml flour
• 4.92 ml ground nutmeg
• 250 g butter (8.8 oz)
• 354.88 ml brown sugar
• 0.25 ml salt
• 19.71 ml baking powder
• 4.92 ml ground cloves
• 2.46 ml ground aniseed
• 2.46 ml ground ginger
• 14.79 ml cinnamon
• 125 g slivered almonds (4.4 oz)
• egg white (to glaze)

directions

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Gradually add sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, mixing well, until the dough forms a ball.
3. Place on a floured surface and roll out very thinly until it's about 3 mm (1/8th inch) thick.
4. Use cookie cutters to shape into desired forms
5. Brush the tops with lightly beaten egg white.
6. Decorate tops with slivered almonds.
7. Bake at 190 C (375 F) for about 12 minutes or until light golden brown.

Reviews

[Phunny Pharmer]

First off, the taste of these cookies is 5 star. The spice blend for these is AWESOME!!!! But the dough and directions are lacking. After mixing the ingredients according to directions, the dough was very dry. I added a little vegetable oil to moisten it. I wonder if the dough needs to be refrigerated after mixing? It was very fragile to roll and place on cookie sheets. Overall, very good cookies. Also, they look beautiful decorated with the almonds. Thanks

 

[Simba7]

Although we did not put the almonds on top, it turned out great. I got less than a half of one, out of fifty they were so popular. The dough was quite dry and so we put in a small amount of water. Thank you for posting!

 

[SweetsLady]

Wow! These taste like what I remember when I was stationed there with my dad. This is my new favorite rollout cookie! Thank you, Kiwidutch!

 

[ElaineAnn]

These taste just like the windmill shaped cookies Grandma bought when I was a child. They are crisp and spicy, nice for dunking in a fresh cold glass of milk. Made for Please Review My Recipe. Thanks for posting kiwi! Eating these made me feel like a kid again!