Speculaas ( Dutch Windmill Cookies)

 

It's getting close to December 5, the Dutch Festival of Saint Nicholas so it was time to dust off my genuine
Dutch wooden speculaas mould, procured in Sydney for me by my niece at a Dutch shop and to make some
traditional speculaas.
But try as I would the dough would not release from the mould after I pressed it in. So here it is less than artfully arranged next to the cookies which I eventually turned into a roll , chilled in the freezer, cut into rounds and baked.
I used the Equagold recipe to make these spicy little biscuits.

Dutch Windmill Speculaas Biscuits Ingredients 120g butter 100g brown sugar 200g standard flour ½ tsp baking powder 1 tbsp Equagold Speculaas European Mixed Spice Pinch salt 1tbsp milk 50g Ground almonds Method Cream the butter, salt and sugar together in a bowl on low speed until mixed, but do not over mix. Sieve the flour, baking powder and speculaas together and blend into the butter and sugar mix. Fold in the milk and the ground almonds, and form the dough into a ball. Wrap dough in a plastic bag or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 4 hrs or overnight if you can. Remove from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Knead the dough until soft, but firm enough to work with. Sprinkle some flour on the bench, and roll to a thickness of about 3-4 mm. Use a biscuit cutter to cut into shapes—or use a genuine Dutch wooden windmill biscuit mould if you have one to press out the shapes. Place shapes on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Bake at 170 degrees C for 12-15 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. Remove from the oven, and cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then place on a rack. Store in an airtight container. To find out more about Equagold, their products and recipes go to: http://www.equagold.co.nz/