Spekulatius Cookies

Difficult to say but yummy to eat, these cookies are also known as German Spice cookies.  They are similar to the Dutch Speculaas cookies (Dutch windmill cookies) and the Belgian Speculoos.

When I was a kid my mom used to bake loads of cookies every Christmas, her Spekulatius cookies were one of my favorite, I got the recipe from her so now I don't have to wait for Christmas to eat them .  Here is her recipe.

Step 1 What you will need:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter                                            1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup light brown sugar                          1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup ground almonds                           1/4 tsp. ground cardamon
1 large egg                                                1/4 tsp. ground cloves
3 cups flour                                                1/4 tsp. ground mace*
3 tbsp. milk                                                1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds (optional)

*If you can't find mace you can substitute it with nutmeg.

Equipment:

Measuring cups and spoons
Mixing bowls and mixer
Rolling pin
Cookie cutters
Parchment paper
Cookie sheets

Yield: Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Comments

[#OccupyInstruct]

if the edges get too dark, when you make the second batch turn the oven down 5 degrees. just a friendly reminder

[ChrysN]

Cool, thanks for the tip.

[knektek]

it looks better with the burnt edges, because the cookies look like if they have been laser but :P

[ChrysN]

Laser cut cookies, that sounds fun.

[thepelton]

I have an Epilog laser, and I hadn't yet tried foodstuffs in it, other than attempting to laser engrave some nuts. Thought about trying Matzoh, but not speculaas cookies.

[ChrysN]

I bet you could do a lot of amazing stuff with a laser cutter, I'd love to have access to one. Engraving nuts seems pretty neat.

[thepelton]

Someone else had an instructable on engraving nuts. I don't remember exactly where it was, but I tried it myself, and got no results on pecans as of yet. I put one in the machine, and it didn't seem to do anything.

[thepelton]

I read about speculaas cookies in a fantasy book about thirty years ago called "Van Loon's lives". I never knew they were similar to the windmill cookies I loved all my life. This makes me hungry!

[mikeasaurus]

mmmm Christmas cookies.