Speculaas

   When I was a child we celebrated St. Nicholas day on December 5th. It was always a lot of fun; my Opa and Oma would dress up as St.Nic and black Pete (memories of my Oma with a painted black face....oh boy), and we had lots of traditional Dutch treats. I must have been feeling Christmas sentimental (semi-mental, as my Dad would say!) because I wanted to make some speculaas, a treat we would always have for St. Nicholas day.

  Speculaas is a spiced shortbread/shortcrust style cookie that's not quite a ginger snap because the texture is a bit different, and you also add pepper to the dough as a seasoning! I know, pepper! 
   After researching (aka-Googling!) a bunch of recipes I decided on Martha Stewart's version. The only thing I didn't do that was instructed was to freeze the cookies once they've been cut and placed on the baking sheet. Why didn't I do it, you may ask? Because I did the classic bad recipe maker move, and didn't fully read through the instructions! I already had my oven on, warmed up, and out-loud said, "damn you Martha!". I was mad. I think I may have been hungry.
   Anyway, they turned out nicely so I'm not sure what the freezing business was all about. Generally if you freeze a shortcrust dough once it's cut out it is intended to preserve the shape/size of the cookie, but I didn't find I had a problem without freezing. So, anywho, you decide what you want to do in that regard!  

Speculaas

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups flour
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
  
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  
• 1 tsp ground ginger
  
• 3/4 tsp ground cardamom
  
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  
• pinch of ground cloves
  

*You can also just use 3-4 tsp allspice or pumpkin pie spice + pepper if you'd like* 
But you can't skip the pepper!

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
  
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup water

Method:

1. In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices
2. In another bowl, cream together on medium-high speed the butter and brown sugar
3. Continue to beat until light and fluffy, then stir in about half of the flour mixture until combined
4. Stir in the water
5. Add the remaining flour and stir until thoroughly combined 
6. Divide the dough into thirds, and squish each section down flat, then wrap 'er up in plastic wrap
7. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. I am a hater of cookies that need fridge time, but it's important for these because it gives all the great spices a time to really come alive in the dough. 
......................time is ticking away......................


1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Place the chilled dough onto a well-floured surface and roll out to about 1/4″ thick
3. Now, I don't own a real speculaas mould, so I used a (brand-new, squeaky clean) set of Christmas stamps I had recently acquired. If you have nothing to press into the cookie for a design, that's o.k. too, just roll the dough out a pinch thinner, and feel free to use a cookie cutter and make these into different shapes
   
4. Cut out the cookies with a knife and place them on a the prepared baking sheet
5. Continue stamping and cutting until you've used up all the dough
6. Place the cookies in the oven and immediately drop the temperature to 250 Degrees 
7. Bake for 55 –65 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are firm and just beginning to turn golden around the edges 
8. Cool the cookies on wire racks
9. These are freezable! 

   Some versions of these cookies are flakier than others. This particular recipe comes up as a nice, crunchy style cookie. Either way, you've got some fantastic spices nestled away in there, including the secret ingredient-pepper, and that just makes for a nice treat.
   We are visiting family over the holidays, and I am looking forward to it! I hope you can make up a batch of these traditional Dutch Christmas cookies (although, they are usually served as part of St. Nicholas Day on December 5th). No worries, I'm sure St. Nick won't mind!
   Have a great weekend everyone!

xo