FFwD: Speculoos

These cookies are all over the place in Belgium and Holland at Christmas time, and are called Speculaas so I assume that Dorie Greenspan’s Speculoos are the exact same.

I made these as a hostess gift for a Christmas party I attended and enjoyed making them so much that I decided to make three batches!  The spices in the cookies make your entire kitchen smell like the holidays and they are perfect dipped in coffee/tea/cocoa or smeared with Nutella.

These are very easy to make and I didn’t even have to go to the grocery store to get the ingredients.  I followed Dorie’s recipe exactly as stated in her cookbook Around My French Table (with the addition of an egg that she left out in the book).  We aren’t supposed to publish Dorie’s recipe on our blogs so I found a similar one on Epicurious.com:

Belgian Spice Cookies Recipe Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg

Preparation

Combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter on medium speed in large bowl until light. Add egg and beat until fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients and beat on the lowest speed just until combined. Divide dough in half. Flatten each half into rectangle. Wrap with plastic; chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets. Roll out 1 dough piece on lightly floured work surface to 13 x 9-inch rectangle. Trim edges to form 12×8-inch rectangle. Cut into 24 4×1-inch rectangles. Lightly press miniature cookie cutter into each rectangle to make imprints (do not cut through dough). Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until edges begin to darken, about 8 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool. Repeat with remaining dough piece.