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a wooden board with Dutch almond-filled speculaas cookies on a white background. One cookie is sliced in half

Gevulde Speculaas Koekjes (Dutch Almond-Filled Spice Cookies)

Andréa
Gevulde Speculaas koekjes (Dutch) or Almond-Filled spice cookies are the ultimate cookies in the fall and winter. The creamy, slightly sweet almond paste filling, with a gingerbread cookie dough around it, baked crispy in the oven. And it’s quite an easy recipe These filled cookies are so tasty, you will keep eating them.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
cooling time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Sweets and Sweet Baking
Cuisine Dutch
Servings 12 mini cookies or 6 large ones
Calories 246 kcal

Equipment

  • A conventional oven is used. When using a convection oven (with air fan) decrease the temperature with 30 °F / 20 °C
  • Food processor with knife
  • Rolling Pin
  • mini muffin baking tin

Ingredients
 

Dough speculaasdeeg

  • 1 ½ cup self-rising flour
  • 1 tablespoon speculaas spice mix
  • ½ + ⅓ cups dark brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick Butter cold in small cubes
  • 1 Egg yolk large egg
  • 1 oz. almonds ,slivered
  • 2 tablespoons milk

Almond Filling

  • 5 oz. Almond paste

Egg wash

  • 1 egg size S, slightly beaten (or use half of a egg size L)

Garnish

  • 12 almonds whole, without skin

Ingredients you need per step are listed below the step in Italic

Instructions
 

Prepare the Speculaass

  • Place the self-rising flour, gingerbread spices, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor with a blade. Pulse 3 times to mix everything together. (If you don't have a food processor, see the tips for an alternative method).
    1 ½ cup self-rising flour, 1 tablespoon speculaas spice mix, ½ + ⅓ cups dark brown sugar, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
  • Add the cubes of butter and pulse until you get pea-sized granules.
    1 stick Butter
  • Then add the egg yolk, slivered almonds and milk and pulse until you get a cohesive dough. You can check this by putting a little dough in your hand and pressing it together. If it doesn't fall apart, your dough is ready.
    1 Egg yolk, 1 oz. almonds, 2 tablespoons milk
  • Remove the dough from the bowl and quickly knead it into a flat disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap.
  • Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour (or longer, see tips - Storage).

Baking and forming gingerbread cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180°C).
  • Grease a mini muffin tin with butter.
  • Dust your work surface with flour and place the dough on it.
  • Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of ⅕ inch (3 mm).
  • Take a 2 inch (5 cm) diameter round cutter (mini cupcake tin) or 4 inches (9 cm) diameter (large cupcake tin) and cut a circle out of the dough.
  • Fill a baking tin with the dough, shape so that you get a bowl.
  • Take the almond paste and knead it briefly. Fill the tin of dough and flatten the top.
    5 oz. Almond paste
  • Go back to your dough and use a round cookie cutter of 2 inches (4cm) (mini cupcake tin) or 3 inches (7cm) (large cupcake tin) and cut out a circle.
  • Place it over the top of the almond paste. Press the edges well.
  • Take a whole almond and place the almonds on top of the dough (press slightly). Beat the egg and brush the top of the dough.
    1 egg, 12 almonds
  • Brush the top of the cookies with beaten egg.
  • Repeat for all cookies.
  • Bake the filled speculaas cookies in the oven. 15 minutes for mini cookies, 20 minutes for the larger version.
  • Let stand for 5 minutes and then carefully remove them from the pan. Let cool further on a rack.

NOTES

1. Self-rising flour -
If you don't have self-raising flour, use 200 grams of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
2. Almond Paste -
Ready made (as in this recipe), or you can quickly make it yourself with the recipe for almond paste (homemade almond paste tastes the best).
Recipe Homemade Almond Paste
  • Use 2 cups of almond flour, 1 ¼ cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of lemon zest,  and 1 large egg
3. Speculaas spices 
You can buy them in Dutch shops. But if you can't get your hands on them, make your own spice blend.
Mix the following spices in a small bowl:
  • 4 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, 3 teaspoons of ground nutmeg, 3 teaspoons of ground cloves, 2 teaspoons of ground anise seeds, 2 teaspoons of coriander, and 1 teaspoon white pepper. 
 
4. No food processor?
If you don't have a food processor, use a bowl and cut the butter in step two with two knives through the dough until you get small grains. It is a labor-intensive process, but it certainly works.
Then add the egg yolk, slivered almonds, and milk and knead quickly into a cohesive dough. Place in the fridge for at least two hours (because you knead by hand, the dough is a bit warmer as opposed to kneading with a food processor).
5. Storage
  • Refrigerator dough - The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to two days. It may be that it is a bit harder and difficult to roll out. Then take it out of the fridge fifteen minutes before rolling.
  • Freeze the Dough - Do you have the leftover dough? Then wrap the dough in aluminum foil and then in a freezer bag or container. Let it thaw in the refrigerator. This way the dough will keep for 2 months.
  • Room temperature - Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for four days. You can heat them up at 160 °C for 10 minutes so that the crust becomes nice and brittle again.
  • Freezing - Let the cookies cool and pack them in a freezer box. You can keep them for up to a month. Thaw at room temperature. Heat them at 160°C for 10 minutes before eating a crispy crust.
6. Nutritional Value
The nutritional value is shown per mini filled speculaas cookie. If you bake a “large” cookie, you double the amount.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 246kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 50mg | Sodium: 176mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 282IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Iron: 1mg
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