For Mother's Day this past year my two daughters gave me an embossed rolling pin, the kind of rolling pin that imprints a pattern onto dough as you roll across. I decided I would try this rolling pin out on a new-to-me recipe for speculaas cookies. New things are always fun. And so I thought these would make a nice addition to our Christmas cookies.
Speculaas are known for their spices, their thin and crunchy texture, and sometimes their ornate patterns. This cookie is tied primarily to Dutch holiday tradition, although they're also commonly enjoyed in Belgium and Germany. In all three countries, these cookies are associated with St. Nicholas Day and Christmas.
It should be noted that speculaas and speculoos are not the same. While both are a thin, crispy, and spicy cookie, speculoos tend to be sweeter and less spicy, like Biscoff cookies, while speculaas are heavily-spiced and have a richer flavor and deeper color.
The spices in the recipe that I tried included cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, anise seed, black pepper and white pepper. I'm sure this is the most spices I've ever used in a dessert, both in variety and total amount. In addition to the spices, the recipe called for molasses, dark brown sugar, and cocoa powder -- deepening the flavor and color of the finished product. The resulting cookies are very flavorful as well as pretty.
The actual spices used in a blend for speculaas varies from one bakery to the next and one recipe to the next, creating a baker's identity or a signature flavor. Traditionally, speculaas were made by pressing the dough into hand-carved wooden molds, then turned out onto baking sheets to bake. You can still buy wooden cookie molds, but for home-baking, an embossed rolling pin creates cookies with intricate patterns and less work.
I froze most of these cookies to have closer to Christmas. But I may have to rethink that. In just a day and a half, we've eaten almost all of the ones I didn't freeze. These may be a Christmas cookie, but I can see me making these throughout winter as a nice treat to have with a cup of coffee or tea.
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