Sunday, December 30, 2018

Recipe Notes: Belgian Spice Cookies (Speculoos)

24 December 2018

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2018


I did not know about this cookie until reading the article in Cook's Illustrated. However, I have eaten a version of the cookie. On Delta Airlines flights passengers are given speculoos under the name Biscoff. It has been a few years since I flew on Delta but I do have a vague recollection of eating, and enjoying, these cookies. 


The hard work is done by a food processor. First, though, the dry ingredients—flour, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, and salt—were whisked together in a bowl. Turbinado sugar (which I had on hand to top crème brûlée) was processed for 30 seconds. Butter was added and processed to form a rough dough. An egg was added and processed followed by the flour mixture. The dough was transferred to a bowl and gently kneaded with a rubber spatula to bring it together and mix in ingredients the food processor missed. The dough was then placed between two sheets of parchment paper that has been marked with a 10x12-inch rectangle and patted and rolled out to that size. After chilling in the refrigerator for 90 minutes it was cut into pieces about 1¼x3-inches (I used a pizza wheel) and baked on a rimless baking sheet (I used the bottom of my rimmed baking sheets). It took about four hours to make these cookies, omitting cooling but including 2½-hours chilling.


These cookies are very good. They have a great, crunchy texture but are not too hard to bite comfortably. The combination of spices provides a warm flavor that is not dominated by any one of the spices.  They are easy to make even with the fussy steps of rolling and chilling the dough. They are a great snack or dessert for a cool day and they are worth making again. 



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