Ann Watson wrote a book on molded cookies which included Lebkuchen.

jana

Hello Patti,
That is very easy, just use halve of the indicated spices or try one teaspoon to start with and see how you like this. Any amount you personally like is good of course.

Hope you can figure it out Tere, we have never tried it with the speculaas!

Hope they will be wonderful. We Dutch people are so fond our ‘speculaasjes’ we eat them almost all year round, but during the months toward Sinterklaas and Christmas the stores are super full with all kinds of variations on the speculaas theme.
On of my favorite recipes, using the spices, is this one:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…laas-pies/

Enjoy your baking and thank you for trying and liking so many of our recipes!
Greetings / Groetjes,

Marieke

Hello. If using the ammonia how did you modify the recipe? 10 g or 2 1/2 tsp of ammonia??
This ingredient is very easy to find here in the U.S.
I may give it a try.

Thank you Liz, sounds like we have to try and find some ammonia too.

I tried this recipe twice side by side. The first one I followed it to a tee. The second one, I use Ammonia and omitted both baking soda and baking powder.

The result is….. Ammonia is snappier, and overall just tasted better.
If the Op is still reading this thread, stick to Ammonia. It’s a HUGE difference that I won’t even realize until I tried it side by side. Thanks for the idea!

Hi Jer,
We combine it with a dough whisk for 30 seconds or so, then add the buttermilk and beat well for a minute so it gets smooth and light. After that it is very easy to incorporate the flour. The most important thing is to get a smooth piece of dough without having to work it too much (to avoid gluten-development and get a crunchy cookie).

Hope they will be delicious!

In most products we know, like ‘pepernoten’ and ‘eierkoeken’, that have a soft consistency, the hartshorn is (or was) added to give more airiness because at high temperatures the chemical reaction produces carbon dioxide and ammonia gas which creates air bubbles in the product. It is an ancient baking powder from the days they did not understand the chemical properties but still found out it worked as leaven. Crunchiness is more a result of other ingredients in a recipe like the right combination of sugar and butter.

“… most bakes with hartshorn (baker’s ammonia) are more soft than crunchy”

Hartshorn (baker’s ammonia) makes cookies and crackers more crunchy. . .

Lovely, thank you!

Thank you so much Lily, we will never get enough of speculaas and frankly here in Holland we do eat it (almost) throughout the year 🙂
Don’t know if you have seen it but we have posted a new recipe fro bread that has speculaas spices added to the dough.
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…-favorite/
It is truly very delicious and also a great (healthy) alternative to very rich and filling other Christmas bakes like stollen.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas too!
Ed & Marieke