Dutch Speculaas Cookies
Also known as Dutch Windmill Cookies, our Speculaas Cookies might not be in the shape of windmills, but they still bring the same crisp, spiced cookie flavor of the traditional Christmas recipe.
An International Cookie Exchange
Have you ever been to a cookie exchange? How about hosted one? We love the idea of getting together with friends to share Christmas spirit, nosh on cookies, and swap recipes.
Today we are joining some blogging friends for a virtual cookie exchange party! This isn't just any cookie swap, though. We're all sharing cookies from different countries around the globe, for an International Cookie Exchange!
So many cultures celebrate Christmas in many different ways, but cookies seem to be one of the unifying factors. I guess we all just love a little sweet treat! So, be sure to read all the way to the end of today's post to take a trip around the world: cookie style!
In honor of St. Nicholas' Day on December 6th, we decided to bring Speculaas cookies to the party!
Speculaas Cookies
Speculaas (or speculoos) cookies are a staple of the Christmas season in the Netherlands, Belgium and parts of Germany. These crispy, spiced cookies are traditionally stamped or molded before baking to imprint an image into them, like the classic windmill or the figure of St. Nicholas.
We don't have a special mold or cookie stamp, but we still wanted to enjoy these traditional cookies, so we simply rolled them thin and cut them using a cookie cutter. Decorated with almond slices, they still look pretty enough for a cookie platter!
The name Speculaas has two possible origins. It may come from the Latin word "speculum," meaning "mirror," which would refer to the way the mold creates a mirror image in the cookie. It could also come from the Latin word "speculator" which refers to a bishop (in this case, Saint Nicholas who was Bishop of Myra) and means "he who sees everything".
St. Nicholas' Day Cookies
While these cookies are popular throughout the Christmas season, they are one of the traditional ways of celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas (or Sinterklaas), which falls on December 6th or 19th (depending on the region). This feast celebrates the generosity of St. Nicholas with the giving of presents and is where we get the concept of Santa Claus.
On the eve of St. Nicholas' Feast, Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) brings the children chocolate coins, oranges, and presents. Children leave their shoes out for Sinterklaas, in hopes that he will fill them with treats.
Whether you're getting ready to celebrate St. Nicholas' Day or just celebrating the holiday season, the warm, spiced flavor of these cookies makes them a perfect dose of Christmas cheer!
Making molded Speculaas
If you would like, you can find Springerle Molds or Springerle Rolling Pins at specialty baking stores and online. The recipe below gives instructions for how to make the cookies any of the three ways.
Enjoy!
Speculoos Spread?
Speculoos Spread?As a side note: In the early 2000's some Belgian and Dutch companies started selling a spread version of Speculaas cookies, but when in reference to the spread, you'll often find the spelling of the cookies changed to Speculoos, rather than Speculaas.
But, you probably better know the cookie spread by the name of Biscoff or Cookie Butter.
How about that?
Speculaas Cookies
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon butter, unsalted, softened
- ½ c brown sugar
- 1 ¾ c unbleached all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ¼ c milk
- ¼ c sliced almonds, optional (to decorate)
Instructions
- Place butter in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer, until soft. Add the brown sugar and cream until smooth, 1-2 min.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and spices. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined into an even, sandy mixture.
- Add the milk and beat until the dough forms wet crumbs. Using your hands, knead the mixture to form a soft and pliable dough. (The dough should be soft, but not sticky.) Wrap the dough with plastic wrap or place it in a plastic bag, and refrigerate for 30 min – 1 hour. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days before baking.)
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it to a ¼ - ⅓ inch thickness. Cut using a roughly 2 ½” cutter. Place the cut cookies on a baking sheet and decorate them with sliced almonds if desired. Bake the first batch while you knead the scraps together and re-roll the dough for a second cutting.
- Bake the cookies for 11-12 min, until firm and just beginning to turn golden around the edges.
- Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 1 min before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Continue cutting, decorating and baking until all the dough has been used.
- Store the cooled cookies in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.
To use Springerle Molds
- Roll the dough to ¼ - ½ inch thick (depending on your molds). Spray the molds with cooking spray and lightly dust them with powdered sugar.
- Cut a piece of dough the size of the mold and press the dough firmly and evenly into the mold. Flip the mold over and press it onto your baking sheet, loosening the dough from the mold with your fingers. You can trim any excess dough from the cookie with a small knife. Repeat with the remaining dough. (Be sure to frequently dust the mold with powdered sugar and check if it needs to be cleaned out with a toothpick.)
- Place the molded cookies on a baking sheet and place them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Bake as directed above.
To use a Springerle Rolling Pin
- Roll the dough ½ inch thick with a normal rolling pin. Dust the springerle rolling pin with powdered sugar and press firmly to make a ¼ inch cookie dough with one pass of the rolling pin. Cut the dough along the grid lines with a pizza cutter.
- Place the molded cookies on a baking sheet (a dough scraper works very well to loosen these cookies from the counter) and place them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Bake as directed above.
Welcome to the International Cookie Exchange hosted by Sarah from Curious Cuisiniere and Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla.
You can find these great recipes and more cookies from around the world on the International Cookie Exchange Pinterest Board .
- From Chile:Tortillas and Honey- Alfajores
- From Denmark:Caroline's Cooking- Brunkager (Danish Christmas cookies)
- From the Dominican Republic:The Petit Gourmet- Deditos de novia
- From Germany:Cosmopolitan Cornbread- Spritzgeback (Butter Cookies)
- From Greece:Tara's Multicultural Table- Kourambiethes
- From Italy: Eat Picks -Cujidatta
- From the Netherlands:Curious Cuisiniere- Dutch Speculoos Cookies
- From Poland:A Day in the Life on the Farm- Kolatczki
- From Puerto Rico:SewYou Think You Can Cook- Mantecaditos
- From Sweden:Culinary Adventures with Camilla- Sju Sorters Kakor, a Traditional Swedish Cookie Platter
- From Vietnam:I'm Not the Nanny- Vietnamese Ice Coffee Cookies
DISCLOSURE: This post does include Amazon affiliate links. These links are provided to help you find some of the more specialty ingredients we mention in the recipe. If you make a purchase on Amazon after following our affiliate links, we do receive a small commission from Amazon, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Curious Cuisiniere!
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
Hi! Always loved "Windmill cookies," but never made them.
I will this year! What does anyone think about replacing some of the flour with almond flour??
Thank you!
Hi Kate. I'm not particularly familiar with working with almond flour. Some should work, but I wouldn't replace all. If you give it a try, let us know how it turns out!
Speculaas cookies - having trouble!
Rolling these out and they’re sticky! Sticking to the granite counter and the rolling pin. Any suggestions??
Hi Mary. Sorry you had trouble with these. The dough should not be sticky. I would add more flour until they roll nicely.
Hi Sarah, I posted a version of your cookies on my blog today with a link back to this post and credit to you in the recipe notes. Thanks for the great recipe. Merry Christmas. https://adayinthelifeonthefarm.blogspot.com/2019/12/happy-st-nicholas-day-traditional.html
Yours are super cute! Glad you enjoyed them!
Hi, this recipe says that the cream goes with the butter but in the ingredient list there is. O cream....
Hi Joana. "Cream" is a culinary technique meaning to "beat together until thick and soft". The butter and brown sugar get "creamed" together in step 1. Enjoy!
Hey there
just printed 3 of your Christmas cookie recipes - thanks for that! They sound great. I am from Germany and we have a lot of cookie recipes, but you know what I hate? With German recipes you always need to weigh all ingredients with digital kitchen scales - recipes give the amount needed in g or mg. I hate this so much, it is just no fun starting baking with all this weighing. I guess this is so typical German to do that.. need to know exactly... 😉 😉 Therefore I am in love with British and American baking recipes using tablespoons and cups - that's more my cup of tea 🙂 🙂 I will try yours Pfeffernüsse, Vanilla Kipferl and Spekulatius 🙂 Wish me luck 🙂
We're so glad you enjoy our recipes Simone! Definitely stop back by and let us know how they turn out for you! Happy baking!
In the Netherlands we don't eat speculaas with Christmas, but with our own version of Christmas (with many more presents 🙂 ), Sinterklaas or Saint Nicolas.
In the Netherlands Sinterklaas is usually celebrated a lot bigger than Christmas.
These are such a great St Nicholas' Day treat!
Part of me didn't want to decorate all the cookies with almonds, but they definitely look better with them. If I make them again, I would probably roll the dough out to ⅛″ or ¼″ at the most. I rolled to ⅓″ and they came out looking more like biscuits than cookies. Oops!
Thanks Jeff! We do like the almonds decorations, since we don't have a press to make them really pretty. 🙂 Thanks for your note on rolling the dough. These do puff a little! Glad you enjoyed them!
Yum! Thanks for hosting! It was such a fun event! I love the almond decorations on top.
Thanks Tara! Thanks for joining in!
I think you did a great job decorating these cookies.
Thanks for hosting such a fun party!
Thanks! And thanks for joining the party!
Thanks so much for co hosting this fun event. I loved it and I had forgotten all about windmill cookies. They were my favorites when I was a kid.
Thanks for joining in! Maybe you can make windmill cookies for Christmas this year and revisit the memories!
Thank YOU for asking me to co-host this fabulous event with you. I can't believe how many cookies I want to bake this weekend! I will brave your recipe and use my mom's molds soon. Maybe not this weekend, but definitely by the end of the month.
This was so much fun! I'm so glad we did it! You'll have to let me know how the recipe turns out in the molds. I can't wait to see them!
Sarah! I love speculoos, and have done several recipes with them, but I have tried the ones from Belguim! I wonder if this is the same recipe?
Hmm, I wonder. I'd love to compare the recipes.
Thanks so much for hosting this exchange! I am so excited to see all of the different posts and to get ideas for my upcoming Christmas baking. I've purchased speculoos but I've never thought of making them. I am definitely putting these cookies in the rotation!
Thanks for joining along Renee! We had such a great collection of cookies! You'll have to let us know how the cookies turn out for you!
I see you also went for a spiced cookie - they are just so fitting this time of year! Like your adapted cookies since you didn't have moulds, sure they taste great.
There is something so comforting about a spiced cookie this time of year. They just make us feel so cozy!