Dutch Speculaas: Crisp Spiced Windmill Cookies with Cinnamon, Clove and Cardamom

Mix the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger and white pepper together in a small bowl. This is your speculaaskruiden spice blend.

Serves 12 (makes about 36 cookies)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, for pressing on top

Instructions

1. Mix the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger and white pepper together in a small bowl. This is your speculaaskruiden spice blend.
2. Beat the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl until creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the milk.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and spice blend together, then add to the butter mixture and mix until a firm dough forms. Knead briefly on the counter until smooth.
4. Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Resting lets the spices bloom and the dough firm up for clean shapes.
5. Heat the oven to 175C (350F) and line two trays with baking paper. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 4mm thick.
6. Cut with a windmill cookie cutter or any shape you like, or press the dough into a floured traditional wooden speculaas mold and tap it out. Place on the trays and press a few sliced almonds onto each cookie.
7. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the edges are a shade darker and the kitchen smells of spice. The cookies firm up as they cool, so do not overbake.
8. Cool completely on a wire rack. They keep crisp in an airtight tin for 3 weeks and taste even better after a few days.
9. Speculaas are the spiced cookies of the Netherlands and Belgium, traditionally stamped with windmills, ships and figures of Sinterklaas for the December 5th feast, though bakeries now sell them from the first cool days of autumn. The spice blend, built on cinnamon, clove and nutmeg brought home by the Dutch East India Company, is the taste of the Dutch holiday season. Crushed, they become the famous speculoos cookie butter, but a crisp whole cookie dunked in coffee on a grey October afternoon is how most Dutch families enjoy them.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 250 kcal
• Protein: 3g
• Fat: 14g
• Carbohydrates: 30g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 16g
• Sodium: 120mg