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You are here: Home / Holiday Baking / Almond and Cranberry filled Speculaas Pies

Almond and Cranberry filled Speculaas Pies

13 Comments Holiday Baking, Sweet baking Dutch, Holiday baking, pies & tarts

Gevulde speculaas met amandelspijs as we call it, has to be part of our ‘heerlijk avondje’ (delightful Sinterklaas evening)!

Klik hier voor de Nederlandse versie
I think I love the filled speculaas even better than the speculaas cookies. It is a bit of extra work, but with these pies you get the crispy cookie-like edges and the soft almond filling plus the cranberry surprise in the middle!

For us, filled speculaas (gevulde speculaas) is very much a part of the Sinterklaas fest, but this does not stop me from making them after December the 5th. In fact, they will always be appreciated whenever the wind blows through the trees or it’s cold and dark outside.

Especially good with hot cocoa with almond liqueur or a glass of home made ‘bisschopswijn’ (glühwein or mulled wine) or a nice cup of tea of course.

Enjoy the Holidays!

Recipe for the Speculaas Pies

makes 10 speculaas pies

400 g pastry flour / all purpose flour

12 g baking powder (2,5 tsps)

few pinches of salt

5 tsps speculaas spices (10-12 g) (see recipe)

250 g dairy butter at room temperature

250 g soft (dark) brown (muscovado) sugar

1 tbsps/ 15 to 20 g buttermilk (or milk with yoghurt)

150 g almond paste (see recipe) with 1/4 to 1/2 beaten egg

100 g cranberry compote or jam

Beaten egg with a bit of water for brushing the tops

Almonds for decoration

IMG_1533
Before you start
You can make the speculaas spice mixture in advance. You can find the recipe here. If you do not have the right ingredients or for some reason do not want to make your own you can of course buy them or replace them by something that comes close like mixed spices, gingerbread or pumpkin spices.
You also have to make sure your almond paste is ready for use. You can make the actual paste weeks in advance (it will only get better provided you keep it well wrapped) but just before you are going to use it you have to make it smoother with some beaten egg. You can check out the recipe for almond paste here. Of course, at least in Holland, you can also buy ready made almond paste. But you also want to add some beaten egg to the bought paste too, to get the smooth consistency.

If you are looking for a recipe to make your own cranberry compote you can find one here.

Making the Speculaas Pies

speculaasspijskoek

Sift the flour with the baking powder, salt and spices. Add the butter to the sugar and combine. Add the buttermilk and beat till smooth. Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and quickly knead into a ball. Press the ball into a disc shape, cover with clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 1 hour.

You can make the pies with or without baking tins. In the picture you see an example of pies made in pie tins, but you can also very easily make them without tins. The tins I used measure about 10 cm / 4 inches.

Preheat the oven at 170ºC / 340ºF.
Take the dough out of the fridge. Roll out into a 3 mm thick rectangle. If you do not use any tins you cut out 20 circles of about 9.5 cm / 3.75 inches. If you use the tins you make 10 slightly bigger circles and 10 smaller lids to use as cover.

On each of the 10 base circles you put 15 grams of almond paste and press it down a bit, but make sure to leave a rim of about 1.5 cm / 0.5 inches. On top of that you place 10 g of cranberry compote. Cover the 10 circles with the other 10 circles and press the edges together with the teeth of a fork. Place them on a baking tray. Brush them with the beaten egg. Put half an almond in the middle of each pie and press down a bit. You can first put the pies in the fridge for 10 to 20 minutes to firm up a bit, but it is not absolutely necessary. Bake in the oven at 170ºC / 340ºF for about 22-24 minutes, depending on your oven. All ovens are different so you may have to vary your baking times and oven temperature to get the best result.

If you have made them in tins, wait 5 minutes before releasing them, so they can firm up a bit. If you have made the pies without tins, just leave them on the baking tray for 5 minutes too and then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Holiday Baking, Sweet baking Dutch, Holiday baking, pies & tarts

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Comments

  1. Laura Gerke says

    December 6, 2023 at 18:55

    Thanks so much for this recipe. I can’t wait to make it.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      December 7, 2023 at 12:03

      Let us know how it goes!

      Wishing you happy Holidays

      Reply
  2. Alisa Cohen says

    December 8, 2019 at 22:05

    Does this also make one large pie, or would I have to adjust the ingredients? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      December 9, 2019 at 08:42

      Hello Alisa,
      Yes, it would be possible to make one large pie. We have not done this so we cannot give you the exact measurements and baking time. Given the amount of dough we would maybe opt for two pies. We estimate the amount of filling could also be doubled for one large pie and you may need some more oven time.
      We hope it will work out and will be delicious!

      Reply
  3. Susan James says

    December 28, 2018 at 17:03

    Do they freeze well?

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      December 29, 2018 at 08:20

      Hello Susan,
      Yes, we do freeze them and that goes very well with these pies and also with speculaas cookies. You can also give them a quick pick me up in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes. We would advice you to serve them within two to three weeks.The quality of all bakes gets less we find when held in the freezer for longer.

      Reply
  4. Gery says

    July 11, 2018 at 01:43

    Hi how do I make a Abraham for a 50th birthday tradition in Holland

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 15, 2018 at 10:07

      Hello Gery,
      It is usually done with a steel mold or one cut out of (baking)paper. You can make them with speculaas (cookie) dough or bread dough and most of the time they are filled with a type of almond paste. It also depends on the region in Holland, each province can have its own tradition. Like Friesland, where they make them out of ‘oranjekoek’ or something resembling ‘taaitaai’.
      We presume you understand Dutch and so we want to point you to this website that has a recipe that might help you on your way:
      www.baksels.net/site/…m-en-sara/

      Good luck with it and happy baking!

      Reply
  5. Shulamit says

    December 30, 2015 at 10:53

    OHHHHHH Gevulde speculaas – I NEVER thought I would find the recipe online…… THHHAANKK YOUUU:)!!

    Reply
  6. Trudy messinger says

    December 5, 2015 at 16:10

    Have trouble pinning any of your recipes.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      December 12, 2015 at 19:59

      Hi Trudy,
      Sorry, we do not know how or why this can be, we are able to pin them when we try ourselves.

      Reply
  7. Irene says

    February 4, 2015 at 14:58

    Just wanted to say that I absolutely love your website and your recipes! Amazing inspiration and the recipes that work! Thank you guys!

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 12, 2015 at 09:24

      Thank you so much Irene for this wonderful feedback. Much appreciated!

      Happy baking,

      Ed & Marieke

      Reply

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