Spekulatius or Spekulaas Shaped Spice Cookies
These classic molded cookies are a holiday classic, especially for The Feast of Saint Nicholas (Dec 6th)... but they're delicious any time of year! The yield on this recipe varies, based on the size of your molds. You should be able to get one to two dozen cookies, unless your molds are very large or you make very thick cookies. Try to keep the dough relatively thin (between ¼"-½"). Making them thinner will give you more tender cookies, and more of them, though the unbaked dough is a little more delicate to handle the thinner you press them into the molds.
Ingredients
- 6 oz butter, softened 1 ½ sticks
- 1 ¼ cups brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp milk or cream
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- ¼ tsp lemon extract (can sub ½ tsp finely grated lemon zest)
Dry Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cup flour
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground clove
- ⅛ tsp ground white pepper
Instructions
make cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, mix the spices, flour, and salt and whisk or sift to combine thoroughly. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or mixer, cream the softened butter until smooth, then add the brown sugar. This is easiest with a stand mixer and paddle attachment, but you can use a hand mixer or a sturdy spoon.
- When the sugar and butter are fluffy and well mixed, add the egg and mix again until emulsified. Stop and scrape down the bowl, and then add the milk and extracts (or lemon zest). Cream together again until uniformly mixed.
- Add half of the spiced flour mixture and mix lightly on low speed for about 30 seconds, or fold it in gently. Stop the mixer, scrape down the bowl thoroughly, and add the rest of the flour mixture.
- Mix gently or on low just until the flour is combined. You may want to finish mixing by hand, or knead the dough two or three times just until it is combined.
- Wrap the dough tightly in plastic or seal it in an airtight container, and let it rest and chill in the fridge overnight, or at least 8 hours.
mold and bake your cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line your cookie sheets with silicone non-stick sheets, parchment paper, or use nonstick sheets (or butter and flour them very lightly as a last resort). Oil and flour your cookie molds.
- Press pieces of dough into your molds all the way to the edges. Trim the back or remove some dough if you used too much- try to make thinner cookies if you can.
- Rap them out onto the sheets, or gently peel the dough back out of the mold. Experiment and figure out which technique works best for your particular molds- I usually have to carefully peel my cookies out and then place them gently on the sheet pans.
- Bake them for 15-25 minutes, just until they look set and are very lightly golden brown around the edges. They will still be slightly soft but will firm up as they cool. Smaller or thinner cookies will bake faster than large or thick ones, so adjust the baking time as needed.
- Let the cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a rack or cold cookie sheet with a thin metal spatula. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
