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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Speculass

Dutch Windmill Biscuits




Do you remember eating these delectable biscuits? They were a favourite in our house when I was young. I also remember a piped shortbread being another favourite as well.


In February of last year, Carla, a lovely lady I met via the DTE forum gave me her recipe for Speculass. I've been wanting to try the recipe since then and finally made it on the weekend. Oh my goodness the taste and smell of the biscuits is divine, I don't know why I waited so long!



I'm sure Carla won't mind me sharing her recipe



Speculass


250g softened butter, 250g brown sugar, 50g water, 2g salt, 15g Speculass powder (see below), 5g, baking powder, 500g plain flour, slivered or flaked almonds (optional)



Speculass Powder



10g cinnamon, 5g of each of the following spices - ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground cardamon, ground white pepper, ground coriander seed, ground ginger, ground aniseed (I used star anise), ground mace.
Mix well, place in a jar with a screw top lid.



Method



In a food processor combine all ingredients till it gathers into a ball. Knead until smooth with no tears in it. Wrap in cling film or foil and rest overnight in the fridge. This allows for the flavours to develop. The next day roll the dough out thinly, between two sheets of baking parchment till about 3mm thick, cut into shapes and place on a well greased or baking parchment lined trays. Lightly press a few slivers of almond on top of each biscuit. Bake for 18 minutes in a 180C oven. Leave on trays to cool.



The above is Carla's original directions, plus a few suggestions by me. As I am without a food processor at the moment, I mixed the dough by hand. This works well as long as your butter is soft.



Instead of rolling the dough out, I divided the dough in two and shaped them into logs, wrapped them in baking parchment or greaseproof and popped one in the freezer (I also wrapped it in foil) and the other in the fridge to use the next day.




I took the dough out of the fridge and let it warm up for about half and hour before cutting it into 3-4mm slices.







Once in the oven, turn your trays around and swap shelves if necessary part way through the cooking process. I did over cook one tray slightly. I'd say bake for 15 - 18 minutes.







The aromas in the kitchen while they bake is amazing. Not sure if they will appeal to young children with all the spices. You could leave out some of the stronger spices and just include the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.




Try stopping at one!

4 comments:

Tanya Murray said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I'm going to try these out on my Dutch uncle. We used to love it when he visited, he would always make a special trip to the delicatescen in Holand Park and chocolate hail, salty liquorice and specalauss were always favourites.

Lisa said...

I hope he likes them Tanya. Carla is Dutch as well, so it should be an authentic recipe.
Do you mean Holland Park in Brisbane?

cityhippyfarmgirl said...

Done! I was looking for a biscuit to make today. Thanks for that :-)

Lisa said...

I hope you enjoy them :)