Hi Eric,
Thank you for letting us know. Great you liked the speculaas. For more definition you can use a bit more sugar or you can also put the cookies in the fridge before baking.

To be honest the taste and texture of the cookies always win over the actual shape and the pattern 🙂

I am not sure what the exact origin is of the stuff you can buy today. You can read more about it here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...icarbonate

I heartily agree with you on both cows and butter! And I am going to try your tip with the almond milk.

Thanks,

Marieke

Wait what, I didn’t know it was made from animal particles? I’m a vegetarian. How is the modern stuff made then? I always try to be mindful with animal products, my dairy comes from a local farm where I can see the cows chewing on the grass 🙂

We did bake (croissants) with margarine a few times (special “toerboter”) but that turned out to be a chemical very bad tasting disaster, yuk! I also substitute the buttermilk with almond milk, I think that really goes well with speculaas.

Thanks for the info!

Hi Wouter,
I know the stuff, originally made from Rudolph’s antlers (hartshorn / hertshoornzout). In Holland they also use it for ‘pepernoten’. It is rather hard to find for most people (plus the smell of ammonia, not something I am fond of I must say although it is just for a few minutes). That is why the option to bake the cookies with or without the baking soda could be something to try, depending on your own taste and (you are right) how well they will look as speculaas. In the end the most important thing is taste and texture of course, so I must try your advice about the butter too.

Thanks very much for sharing and happy baking!

Marieke

Thanks for the recipe, I am addicted to speculaas since my father baked it for me when I was young! I love your spice mixture but I do use less butter (35-40%) as otherwise it’ll get too soft for my taste. Raw unprocessed butter really is the norm here!

I did have a problem with the raising agent, as baking soda = natrium bicarbonate, which rises more outwards than upwards. Not that bad for a “sausage” shape, but it destroys the appeal of using molds. The solution is using amonium bicarbonate (“vlugzout”) instead! A trick I learned at the baking school. I hope this helps out someone…