Frank mother’s best recipe
Spekulatius
© Bruno Schroeder/Blueberry Food Studios
On the biscuits, get set, go: We top the crunchy classic with almonds, pistachios and orange peel – and get the Advent baked in a relaxed manner.
45 pieces
Served in 90 minutes
You need this
For the base dough
- 100 grams of butter
- (diced)
- 130 g powdered sugar
- 2 egg yolks (size M)
- 40 g raw marzipan mass
- 3 tsp cinnamon powder
- all ground: ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp cloves
- 1 pinch cardamom
- 1 pinch coriander
- 2 pinches ginger
- 1 pinch deer horn salt (or baking soda)
- 3 tbsp milk
- 220 g wheat flour (Type 550)
with almonds
with orange
- Zest of 1 organic orange (finely grated)
- 1 tbsp wheat flour (Type 550)
- 30 g orange peel
with pistachios
30 g pistachios (ground)
- 1 tbsp milk
- 25 g pistachios (chopped)
Besides that
- Motif rolling pin or biscuit stamp
- Cookie Cutters:
- circle (5 cm Ø)
- square (5 × 5 cm)
- rectangle (8 × 3 cm)
Here’s how it works
- Beat together the butter, icing sugar and egg yolks with a hand mixer. Finely grate the marzipan. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, coriander and ginger. Dissolve staghorn salt in 1 tbsp milk, stir in. Add the flour and knead everything with your hands until smooth.
- Weigh the dough into 3 equal parts: Set aside one-third; briefly knead one third with the orange peel and flour; quickly knead one third with ground pistachios and milk. Form each dough into flat bricks, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Knead all the dough briefly and roll out between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 3 mm. Dust very thinly with flour, then roll over it with the motif rolling pin applying gentle pressure. Cut out speculoos densely with the shapes and spread them out on baking trays lined with baking paper. Refrigerate for another 20 minutes. Knead the leftover dough, chill again, roll out and cut out.
- Brush the pattern thinly with the remaining milk (this way you can see the pattern better afterwards). Depending on the variety, sprinkle with sliced almonds, orange peel or chopped pistachios. Bake the speculoos in a preheated oven at 180 degrees (160 degrees for a fan oven) for 8-10 minutes. Leave to cool completely on the baking sheets.
Frank’s insider tip
Instead of butter, coconut oil is suitable for a vegan version: heat over medium heat, knead the ingredients plus 2 tablespoons of flour into a dough and, after cooling, knead vigorously again.