Every year to celebrate the holidays, Seylou bakery in Washington, D.C., makes its popular spiced speculaas cookies. Flavored with an array of baking spices—cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, black pepper—and baked to crisp, flaky perfection, the treats traditionally feature the image of a windmill or Santa Claus.
“This recipe was inspired by Lisa, one of our former pastry chefs who’s from the Netherlands,” says Charbel Abrache, Seylou’s head pastry chef. “She was working with us during the holidays and brought a box of cookies from the Netherlands. I said, okay, let’s try to work this into what we do. And this really nice, really simple recipe came to be.”
The bakery has made speculaas ever since, starting around Thanksgiving and adding its own twist: Seylou operates its own grain mill and uses unrefined spelt flour to make the treats.
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Abrache says the spelt flour gives the cookies a rich, nutty flavor that all-purpose flour can’t deliver. (The bakery also swaps in maple sugar for granulated sugar.) The best part? Speculaas are a breeze to bake at home whether or not you have the exact ingredients on hand. Read on for the recipe and Abrache’s tips for making your own deliciously spiced speculaas.
“Spelt is one of my favorite flours to work with because it makes a really good cake and really good cookies,” says Abrache. “It usually has a nutty profile, so when you bake it, it’s almost like toasted nuts.”
If you can’t find artisanal spelt flour, simply swap in any whole wheat pastry flour. “A lot of supermarkets right now are actually offering really good whole wheat flour,” he says, “and the small mills that nobody knew about are out there selling flour because of the pandemic.”
Rather than using sugar, Abrache likes to incorporate other natural sweeteners into his baked goods. For the speculaas, he uses maple sugar, which pairs beautifully with the baking spices in the recipe, including cloves and nutmeg.
“When you bake with maple, it makes it so special,” says Abrache. “We’re getting into the holidays and maple is always kind of a staple flavor profile for celebrations during this time.”
At Seylou, he uses locally made maple sugar. You can use maple syrup instead, but you’ll need to make some adjustments to the recipe. “You have to take into consideration that the maple syrup has some moisture in it,” he says. “You can start with cutting half of the buttermilk and substituting the same amount of maple syrup for the maple sugar.”
No matter how eager you are to enjoy a batch of speculaas, Abrache says it’s crucial to be patient and allow the dough to rest. He typically refrigerates it for at least 24 hours before baking, which ensures two things: that the dough is easier to work with and that the whole grain can fully develop its flavor in the dough.
“The longer you let it rest or sit in the fridge the better,” says Abrache. “It will make it easier to bake. Also, be careful not to overwork the dough because it will generate a little bit of gluten and could end up really hard. Just blend it until you see that it’s incorporated, then the resting time will help the flour to finish absorbing all the liquids.”
Resist eating too many cookies straight out of the oven, too. Adequate cooling time allows their classic, crispy texture to develop.
While speculaas are a delight to eat on their own, their perfectly spiced flavor and sturdy, crunchy texture also make them incredibly versatile.
Abrache recommends using them for decorating in place of gingerbread or using a couple of them to make a sandwich with buttercream or ice cream. “I love vanilla ice cream—that’s one of my favorites,” says Abrache.
INGREDIENTS
- 250g Butter
- 200g Maple sugar
- 4g Ground cinnamon
- 1g Ground cloves
- 1g Ground cardamom
- 1g Ground nutmeg
- 1g Cracked black pepper
- 2g Ginger powder
- 45g Buttermilk
- 375g Whole spelt flour
- 2g Salt
DIRECTIONS
- Add the butter and maple sugar to the bowl of mixer. Paddle the butter and maple sugar for 8 minutes. Meanwhile mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Then add the dry ingredients to the sugar and butter mix. Mix it very gently and fold in the buttermilk. Let it rest in the fridge overnight.
- The next day, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Roll the cookies to an approximately 1-mm thickness. Use the cutter of your liking to cut out the cookies.
- Bake them on a cookie sheet for approximately 15 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown.
- Store speculaas in an airtight container for up to 6 days.
