Anyone who doesn’t speak Dutch is probably scratching their heads right now. Speculaaskruiden, what’s that? Simply put, it’s a spice mix that gives speculaas cookies their distinctive taste.
Speculaaskruiden can also be used to flavor all kinds of other baking.
Speculaas, abroad also known as windmill cookies, are a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit. Traditionally they were eaten on or just before St Nicholas’ day. But in modern times they’re pretty much associated with the entire month of December or basically just the entire cold season. They’re just that tasty!
Speculaas spice mix isn’t the same as British mixed spice and American pumpkin pie spice but they are similar, as they share many of the same ingredients. What mainly sets the speculaas spice mix apart is the addition of cardamom.
Their are loads of different recipes for this spice mix. This particular one is from the dutch baking book “Bakbijbel” by Rutger van den Broek.
| Servings |
|
- 8 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
- 1 tsp ground aniseed
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 3/4 tsp ground cardamom
Ingredients
|
|
- Put all the ingredients together and stir well. Store your spice blend in an airtight container for up to six months.
- There may be some spices you can only find whole. To turn them into a powder, dry roast them in a hot pan until they start to release their aroma. Then transfer them to a mortar and pestle and grind the spices to a fine powder.
Hi, will roasting the spices make them lose their aroma faster?
No, that shouldn’t make any difference. Powdered spices will unfortunately loose their aroma over time anyway. If the spices have been roasted or not will not change that.
Thank you for posting this!! So incredibly tasty and smells amazing!
Do you have a go to recipe for the cookies?
Hi, thanks for the recipe. I stayed in Hasselt, Belgium long time ago where I was an exchange student. I remember we used to buy ready Speculaas cookies from Aldi that had a texture between a brownie, a cake and a cookie. They were big and oval. All those years been craving those. I’ve read several Speculaas cookie recipes but they were hard cookies and not like the soft ones I’m talking about
Speculaas cookies are always hard, so I’m not sure what kind of cookies you mean. Perhaps the thing you are looking for is “gevulde speculaas”? Don’t have a recipe for that myself unfortunately.
That is because Hasseltse speculaas is different from the other kinds. It is indeed softer and more in the direction of cake. The Speculaas which is made for St. Nicolas is harder and snaps like a proper biscuit. If you want the softer kind, look for receipes particularly for “Hasseltse speculaas”.
Hi Zain – what your referring to I think it “taai taai” which is a more chewy version on the base of the same spices. Basically there are ‘kruidnoten’, pepernoten and ‘taai taai’. However, kruidnoten are often called ‘pepernoten’ since “real” pepernoten are big square chunks and nobody likes them. THe small crunchie ones are called ‘kruidnoten’ but 99.99% of the population calls those ‘pepernoten’…. 😀 If you run thiis recipe through google translate you’re good to go: https://rutgerbakt.nl/sinterklaas-recepten/taai-taai-recept-uit-koekjesbijbel/ (or search for taai taai and you’ll find loads!)
Hi Véronique, I’m pretty sure what Zain was referring to is Hasseltse speculoos. I know the product he is describing from Aldi, it’s not the Dutch taai taai or kruidnoten, since we don’t really have a tradition of those in Belgium. Big fan of pepernoten though 😉