Almond and Pink Praline Spekulatius
Ingredients
Spekulatius Dough
- 125 g butter softened
- 125 g sugar
- 1 egg
- lemon zest from one lemon
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 50 g almonds ground
- 2-3 drops almond extract
- a pinch of salt
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
Topping
- 1 egg yolk
- 50 g almond slices
- 50 g pink almond praline coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Put all of the spekulatius dough ingredients into a bowl and with your hands knead into a smooth dough.
- Divide the dough into two pieces, form into balls then cover with some plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 210 degrees C.
- Take out one of the dough balls and place between two piece of plastic wrap. With a rolling pin roll the dough out into a thin rectangle.
- Using cookie cutters, cut out the spukulatius and place on a baking tray lined with some baking paper.
- For the topping lightly beat the egg yolk with about 1 tablespoon water. Brush the cookies with the egg wash and sprinkle either the sliced almonds or the pink praline, gently pressing them into the dough.
- Bake in the oven for approx. 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.
Notes
Spekulatius / Speculaas
For this session of Cooking School I thought I would tell you a little bit about my favorite Christmas time biscuits. Spekulatius in German, Speculaas in Dutch or Spéculoos in French, are deliciously crispy shortcrust biscuits, typically served during the Christmas festivities. Spekulatius come in several varieties, such as butter or almond and its typical taste comes from its specific mix of spices, which consists of cloves, cardamom, mace, allspice and vanilla. Most significantly however, spekulatius have images or figures, from the traditional stories about St. Nicholas, imprinted on the front side before baking. It’s an absolute must on my Christmas cookie tray!
My simple version of Spekulatius wraps mellow aromas of clove with the sweet heat of cinnamon and the gentle glow of cardamom and ginger into a deliciously buttery dough, which is sprinkled with sliced almonds and for a bit of fun some crushed pink praline, a special gift I brought along from London. Thanks Pam!
Almond and Pink Praline Spekulatius
Printable version of recipe here Ingredients Spekulatius Dough
125 butter, softened
125g sugar
1 egg
zest of 1 lemon, preferably organic
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
50g ground almonds
2-3 drops bitter almond extract
pinch of salt
250g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder Topping
1 egg yolk
50g almond slices
50g pink almond praline, coarsely chopped Method
- Put all of the spekulatius dough ingredients into a bowl and with your hands knead into a smooth dough.
- Divide the dough into two pieces, form into balls then cover with some plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 210 degrees C.
- Take out one of the dough balls and place between two piece of plastic wrap. With a rolling pin roll the dough out into a thin rectangle.
- Using cookie cutters, cut out the spukulatius and place on a baking tray lined with some baking paper.
- For the topping lightly beat the egg yolk with about 1 tablespoon water. Brush the cookies with the egg wash and sprinkle either the sliced almonds or the pink praline, gently pressing them into the dough.
- Bake in the oven for approx. 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.