Speculaas

Anyone who knows me knows that since the middle of November I’ve been rushed off my feet with numerous essays, presentations and a couple of incredible weekends at the Barbican Framed Film Festival. As a result, I haven’t had time to breathe let alone blog, despite having several folders full of photographs of baking and pages of notes on films all ready for me to collate together and eventually post. It’s Boxing Day, I’m sat in front of the TV watching Happy Feet and still unable to move thanks to yesterday, so felt it was the perfect time to start blogging all the remaining recipes/films/exhibitions that I still haven’t got round to doing!

These are Speculaas, courtesy of Edd Kimber. A spicy biscuit that I made in the summer, they smell like Christmas so would be ideal to make at some point over the holidays (even though it’s perfectly acceptable to make them all year round!). A pack of these would make a lovely gift too: maybe accompanied with a thank you note for Christmas presents? It’s be a little different and surely greatly appreciated…

The original recipe can be found in The Boy Who Bakes, but I’ve popped it here too so you can try them out for yourself.

Ingredients:

425g plain flour

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

½ ts ground cloves

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

200g light brown sugar

225g butter, slightly chilled

1 egg

1 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla extract

Caster sugar for sprinkling

Method:

Line several baking trays with baking parchment. Put the flour, salt, baking powder, spices and sugar in a bowl, and combine using a hand held electric mixer. 

Add the butter and mix until resembling coarse breadcrumbs (or rub in using your fingertips). 

Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract and stir until the mixture starts to come together.

Tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead together until it forms a uniform dough. 

Divide in half, wrap each piece in clingfilm and chill for an hour in the fridge.

Make sure the work surface is still lightly floured, and working with one half of the dough at a time, roll out to a thickness of about 5mm. Using a 7cm cookie cutter, cut out as many shapes as you can. Lift the biscuits onto the baking trays and then chill for 15-20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius for a fan oven), gas mark 4.

Sprinkle the Speculaas with a little caster sugar and bake for around 13-15 minutes or until the edges turn golden. Allow to cool on the baking trays for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

When I made these I rolled the dough too thin so the biscuits were really crispy, so I’d recommend a depth of at least 5mm. The spices smelt fantastic: they weren’t too overpowering and for me really encapsulated the smell of Christmas, which was rather confusing in August but would be perfect now! So if you’re looking for a break from a self-inflicted turkey coma and are looking to do a little baking, then these would certainly go down a treat!