German Spekulatius Cookie Recipe
German Spekulatius Cookie Recipe – Spiced Cookies
This German Spekulatius Cookie Recipe has a long tradition. There are various ways of making the German Spekulatius Cookies. The easiest way is to roll the dough with a rolling pin and cut the cookies with a square or rectangle cookie cutter. Another idea would be to use a springerle rolling pin available here and cut the cookies with a pastry wheel cutter available here. The original way to make these cookies was using a wooden springerle mold. Such a shape may be difficult to find in the United States and may be very expensive. I use the springerle rolling pin combined with the wheel cuter.
Ingredients for German Spekulatius Cookie Recipe:
- 500 g (1.10 lb) of unbleached flour, all-purpose
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 200 g (7.05 oz) of sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 pouch of vanilla sugar OR 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- ½-1 teaspoon of almond extract
- 1 tablespoon of cacao
- ½ teaspoon of anise powder
- ½ teaspoon of coriander or cilantro
- ½ teaspoon of ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon of cardamom
- 1-1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
- 2 eggs, XL
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 200-250 g (7.05-8.8 oz) of butter, soft
- 100 g (3.52 oz) of almonds, blanched ground OR almond meal
Instead of the spices above, you also can use 2 teaspoons of a homemade gingerbread spice mix. Find the recipe here.
Preparation of the cookies:
Mix flour and baking powder and sift into a bowl. Add sugar, salt, spices, and cacao. Create a hole in the center of the flour. Place the eggs and the milk into the hole. Use a fork and mix the ingredients into a thick paste. Cover it with the flour mix. Cut slices of the butter and spread on top of the flour mix. Spread the almonds on top of the butter. Use an electric handheld mixer with the kneading hooks and mix until the dough is smooth. If necessary, use your hands to knead. If the dough is too dry, add some more butter, if the dough is too sticky, place the dough covered with a cellophane wrap for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Sprinkle some flour on your working surface. Roll out the dough very thinly with a rolling pin; work with a cellophane wrap on top of the dough. Take the cellophane wrap off. Roll the dough again, using the floured springerle rolling pin. Remove the extra flour from the cookies. Cut out the patterns along the lines with a pastry wheel cutter or a cookie cutter. Place the cookies on a baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 175°C – 185°C (350°F-365°F) and bake the cookies on the middle rack for about 10 minutes. Let them cool down on a cooling rack. Place them in a tin box to store. Find more of Oma’s traditional German Christmas Cookies Recipes here.