Hello Eric,
So glad we could play a part in bringing speculaas joy to your stepfather and family.
The original speculaas cookies never have egg added to them, not in Holland anyway. Crisp is indeed what we are aiming for 🙂
And you are right, good new spices make a lot of difference.

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas time with family and friends and best wishes for 2026

Ed & Marieke

I was torn between recipes that use eggs and those that don’t, but I’m glad I made these ones. Crisp but not tough. Making them reminded me to make sure my spices are fresh as the flavour was a little weak, so I bought some new spices and the flavours shone through. Thanks so much for your efforts in finding the perfect recipe!

Hello Kelly,
So very great to read you are having fun and success with our speculaas recipe. Fennel seeds are indeed a great alternative to use.
I do not have the exact recipe for the pie in the picture (made it with leftover dough and spice at one point) but you can use this recipe:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts...laas-pies/
Just leave out the added cranberry compote and try the pies or use have the ingredients from this recipe for the dough but all the almond paste (all 150 grams) and make one pie in a mold of around 20 cm. You can decide for yourself the thickness of the layer of almond paste to adjust to your taste. The baking time for this pie would be around 30 minutes.

Wishing you the best time baking more speculaas and speculaas inspired recipes.

Greetings from Holland,
Marieke

I just have to ask, the almond pie in the picture, do you have a recipe for it? I’m drooling over it and I just want to know how to make it!

Thanks again for sharing the secret spice that you’ve mastered along with the easiest cookie recipe ever.

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!