The Christmas Bakery—Spekulatius
So, the sugar fest is over—at least for another year.
Everything around here is sticky. Not only my fingers, but also work surfaces, cutting boards, knives…even my feet are sticking to the floor.
As for my teeth—they are on their way out anyway, but I was hoping to preserve my smile at least until Worldcon. Fat chance of that now.
The injustice is that I don’t even like sweets. Give me a pickled egg any day, but I’m not one for chocolate and cookies. The only exception I make is for salty liquorice, and that isn’t what I would call ‘sweet’.
Anyway, Spekulatius. Traditionally baked in the Netherlands and Westphalia on the 6th of December to honour St. Nicholas, the name of this biscuit refers to a Latin term for ‘Bishop’ (Overseer). The thin, spicy biscuits are usually imprinted with embossments depicting scenes from the Saint’s life. Naturally, I don’t have the traditional wooden plates. Anyway, what do you take me for?
If you bake these things just a few sconds too long, they’ll turn dark. By the time your nose alerts you, it’s already too late. But glazing them with a thin lemon icing and decorating them with almond flakes, candied angelica and little silver balls hides a multitude of sins! 🙂
Again, this is a short, crumbly pastry, but the texture isn’t sandy. If you use demerara sugar, the colour and flavour may improve, but by the time I thought about that, it was too late. Even though this recipe doesn’t use that much sugar, the biscuits turn out very sweet. Be generous with the spices, they should colour the pastry!
Sift flour into a bowl. Pass the ground spices through a fine sieve and add, with the almonds and sugar. Lightly beat the egg with a pinch of salt. Work into dough, adding butter gradually. Knead to ensure that all the butter is evenly worked through. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for one hour.
Preheat oven to 200°C (I think this may be too hot!)
Roll out dough between two sheets of clingfilm to about 3mm thickness. Cut out shapes and transfer to a baking sheet, covered with greaseproof paper. Bake for 10 minutes max, keeping an eye on the biscuits. They should only just colour. If you don’t have a fan-oven, quickly turn the sheet half-way through.
Cover with a thin lemon icing and arrange decorations. If you haven’t burnt your biscuits, you could leave out the icing 😉
Denni