Spekulatius German Spice Cookies Recipes

SPECULAAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, mace, white pepper, and cloves in a large bowl.
• Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in half the flour mixture. Beat in water, then remaining flour mixture. Shape into 3 disks. Pat each to a 1-inch thickness, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Dust surface and springerle mold lightly with confectioners' sugar. Roll out dough to a 1/4- to 3/8-inch thickness (deeper molds will need thicker dough). Cut a piece of dough about the size of the mold. Press mold firmly into dough, flip over, and gently roll over dough with a rolling pin. Flip over, and press onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using a knife, trim excess dough. Gently coax dough out of mold with fingertips and onto a baking sheet. Repeat, spacing cookies 1 inch apart, and placing same-size cookies on same sheet. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place 1 sheet of cookies in oven, and immediately reduce temperature to 250. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until cookies are set and just beginning to turn light gold around edges, 55 to 65 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

SPEKULATIUS 1 (CINNAMON, ALMOND & GINGER BUTTER COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit (200 Centigrade / Gas Mark 6).
• Grease a baking sheet.
• Mix the flour and Baking powder together in a bowl.
• Make a well in the middle and put in the egg, sugar and spices and slowly work it all into a thick dough.
• Cut the cold butter into pieces and together with the ground almonds put on top of dough.
• Cover it all with a little more flour and knead it well to form a smooth dough. Note: If the dough is too sticky or gets warm, cool it a little in the refrigerator.
• Some recipes call for the dough to be left to rest for an hour in the refrigerator at this point.
• Roll out the dough nice and thin (they *are supposed* to be about 1/8th inch thick). If using flaked almonds on the top, sprinkle a few over the dough and pat into it very lightly.
• Cut out the cookies with Christmas Cookiecutters.
• Put Cookies onto greased baking sheet.
• Bake at 400F / 200C (Gas Mk 6) on the top slot in the Oven for about 15 minutes.
• Normally cut into Christmas tree, people, partridge and gift parcel shapes.
• Lightly Adapted From recipe posted by : Brigitte Sealing, Cyberealm BBS, Watertown, NY 315-786-1120.
• These are known as Speculaas or Speculoos in Belgium and the Belgians claim to have invented them :) Some German recipes call for ground hazelnuts rather than ground almonds but Belgian recipes don't. I've had them with hazelnuts in and they're very nice, so given the price of ground almonds -- :).