RecipesBaking And Sweets

Sinterklaas biscuits, Speculaas recipe

Recipe kindly provided by Paul Fogarty.

Sinterklaas biscuits, Speculaas recipe
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Ingredients

For the recipe:
  • 2 tablespoons full milk (no point bothering with the skinny stuff when you’re making biscuits!)
  • 2/3 cup dark Muscovado sugar
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon ground mace
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons chopped almonds
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped candied citron
  • 2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • Cornflour for dusting your mould

Recipe kindly provided by Paul Fogarty. Huge thanks to Paul and to all the contributors to our recipe section.

This produces a rich, buttery biscuit. If you like them a little more crunchy, leave out the baking powder. I’ve played around with the spices over the years and settled on these quantities as my favourite mix. There are no rules, and you can, of course, use a tablespoon of Steenbergs organic speculoos spice mix for ease!

This recipe has been adapted by Paul from one found online. He forgets where I found the original recipe so am sadly unable to acknowledge its author. That the quantities are in cups suggests it was from an American website.

Method

01
In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in the milk.
02
Sift together the flour, spices, baking powder and salt into the milk & sugar and stir to mix. It’ll still be quite dry at this point.
03
Mix in the almonds and candied citron.
04
Using a knife, cut the butter through the flour mixture until it starts to come together as a dough, then kneed gently on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for about an hour.
05
Pre-heat the oven to 175˚C
06
Dust a wooden mould with cornflour. Press the dough firmly into the mould and cut away any excess. Gently lift out the moulded shape and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. If you’re using a cookie-cutter instead, roll the dough to about 5-8mm. Any thicker and the dough won’t cook properly without burning.
07
Bake for 15 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to darken. Cool on a wire rack to crisp up. Store in an airtight tin for up to a month. The flavour improves considerably over the first week.