Brilliantly Easy Speculaas Cookie Butter

Is it Speculaas, Speculuus, or Spekulatius?

It’s all of the above.  Speculaas is Dutch, Speculuus is French, and leave it to the Germans to add a few more letters in Spekulatius!

But no matter how you spell or pronounce it, it is a lovely spiced cookie with a gingerbread vibe that comes to us from the Netherlands, but is enjoyed all over Europe all year round.  

Speculaas Spice Blend

I’m sharing the spice blend that Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh share in their book Sweet. Most of the ingredients are typical  of what we would expect in any type of gingerbread or spice cookie: cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves.  But what makes these cookies distinct (and actually most European gingerbread) is the addition of white pepper, aniseed, and coriander.  All together, they create a lovely warm blend that is so aromatic and cozy.  Make up a good amount, and you can use it for all sorts of cookie baking.  The white pepper adds a bit of heat, the aniseed adds a slight licorice flavour, and the coriander adds a warmth. But all together they blend with none of them taking over.

Speculaas Cookies

The first part of this master recipe relies on making up a batch of Speculaas cookies.  Which isn’t a bad thing.  I’ll share the original recipe, but to tell the truth, I usually divide it in half when I’m baking just for us.  A half recipe makes about 30 cookies.  Of these, you will need about 15 to make the Cookie Butter to follow.  These cookies are enjoyed in Europe all year round, so don’t feel that these need to only come out in the winter.

It’s a very basic recipe of flour, spices and baking powder in one bowl, and butter and sugar creamed together in a blender.  A bit of rum is added to the sugar mixture.  And then the dry ingredients are blended in.  After a bit of kneading it comes together into a lovely ball, which can be wrapped till time to roll out, whether 30 minutes later, or even frozen till needed.

Roll the dough out, use a biscuit or cookie cutter and cut out the cookies, re-rolling the dough till it has been used up.  For the photo above you can see how I finished half of them for eating, leaving the ones I would need for the Cookie Butter plain.  To finish the cookies to eat or share: brush them with a little frothy egg white and top with sliced almonds.  Bake for about 12 minutes till golden.  Cool on a wire rack and store in a sealed container.

Speculaas Cookie Butter

So now you have some delicious homemade Speculaas Cookies to transform into the best little sweet condiment!  Who knew that cookies could be transformed into a spread? Well, someone in Belgium did, and the rest is history.  It doesn’t get any easier than this recipe.  There are some recipes that are quite detailed, and some that even require the stove top. But I give you the easiest recipe. All you need to do is whiz up Speculaas cookies till you have a fine crumb, in your food processor.  Add milk (even cream or almond milk) some coconut oil, a little salt and brown or cane sugar, and blend up!  You will see it transform into a thick spread, with little bits of cookie crumb speckled throughout.  It actually reminds me of chunky peanut butter. I actually don’t like it when it looks too smooth, it looks commercially processed that way.

How to Use Cookie Butter

Spoon it on toast or your cinnamon raisin bagel.  Use it as a filling for cookie sandwiches.  Use it in waffle batter or for filling my easy to make Go-To Crepes!!  I’ll be turning it into Ice Cream next!  Can’t wait to share that recipe with you! The butter will last for a good two weeks in a sealed jar at the back of the fridge.  You may need to let it warm up so that it is soft enough to spread on your toast in the morning.

Love Jen

Print

Speculaas Cookie Butter

Fragrant and beautifully spiced Speculaas Cookies are transformed into a luscious and easy to whip up Cookie Butter. Use this delightful condiment on toast, in baking, to fill cookie sandwiches or wherever your imagination takes you!

Course Baking

Cuisine Dutch

Keyword cookie butter, speculaas, spice blend

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Servings 1 14 oz jar

Ingredients

Speculaas Spice Blend, makes enough for two full batches of the cookies to follow

• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground aniseed
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 3/4 tsp white pepper
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

Speculaas Cookies

• 3 2/3 cups (450 g) all purpose flour, can use a gf cup for cup flour blend
• 3 1/2 tsp spice blend, above
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup plus 1 1/2 tbsp (250 g) room temperature butter,
• 1 3/4 (330 g) packed cups brown sugar,
• 2 1/2 tbsp (50 ml) dark rum or brandy,
• 1 large egg white, beaten till frothy, to be used for cookies you are eating, not ones for the cookies to use for the cookie butter.
• 1 cup (100 g) sliced almonds,

Speculaas Cookie Butter

• 8 oz Speculaas Cookies, above, or 225 grams (enough to make 2 cups of crushed crumbs
• 1/4 cup almond milk, can also use whole dairy milk or even cream
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, can also use softened butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract,
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar, can also use Cane sugar
• a good pinch of salt

Instructions

Speculaas Spice Blend

1. Combine all the spices in a jar with a lid. Give it a good shake or use a fork to blend well. Seal and store in your spice cupboard. Feel free to double the recipe if you know you will be doing a lot of baking.

Speculaas Cookies

1. Sift the flour, spice blend, baking powder and salt in a bowl with a whisk. Set aside.
2. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand held mixer) and beat with the paddle attachment until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the rum and beat till combined.
4. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low until it comes together. You can transfer the dough to a clean surface to bring it together and knead till smooth.
5. Divide into two balls and flatten each into a thick disk. Wrap in plastic and store in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. You can also store one in the freezer if you only want to bake a half batch.
6. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400F or 200C. LIne two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is just under 1/4 inch thick ( .5 cm) Use a 2 1/2 to 3 inch cookie or biscuit cutter and cut out rounds. Place them on the baking sheets, leaving about 3/4 inch in between each cookie. Keep re-rolling the remaining dough till it has been all used up.
8. If making cookies for the Cookie Butter (you will need 1/2 of one disk to achieve this (or about 1/4 of the entire recipe) you can leave them plain.
9. If you are baking cookies to eat and share, then paint the top of those cookies with a light layer of the beaten egg white and sprinkle with almond slices.
10. Bake for 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from side to side and front to back halfway through. The cookies should be golden brown and the almonds slightly toasted. Be sure not to under-bake them, you want them to be crisp, they are meant to take on a darker colour.
11. Cool on sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks to completely cool. Store in a sealed container for a week or so.

Speculaas Cookie Butter

1. Take the cookies and place them in the container of a food processor. Whiz until the cookies have turned into fine crumbs.
2. Add the milk, coconut oil, vanilla, brown sugar and salt.
3. Blend till completely mixed and smoothish. You will still have some cookie crumbs that show through, but I think this is part of the charm.

4. It will be on the thick side. If you desire a thinner, spreadable consistency, add a tsp of milk at time till you are happy.

5. Store in a sealed container in the back of the fridge, it should keep this way for up to two weeks. You may need to let it come to room temperature before using, so that it is easier to spread.

Recipe Notes

Notes
Make up a double batch of the spice blend to keep on hand. Works as a wonderful option to Chai spice blend.
The cookie dough can be frozen if you don't want to bake the whole batch at one time. Or it is easily halved to make a half batch, using the weights will make it easy to determine the half amounts.
Try using other cookies for the Cookie Butter: Oreos, Chocolate, Oatmeal, Gingersnap, Peanut Butter etc The sky is the limit!

Spice Blend and Cookie recipe from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh

Cookie Butter inspired by this recipe here.