Speculoos Cookies

Speculoos

 

I got these speculoos molds when we were living in Belgium years ago. I think I may have tried to use them once over the years, and now I had the urge to try again. I started by experimenting with this recipe, which is a gingerbread recipe more than a traditional speculoos recipe

Following a method from YouTube, I rolled out the dough flat then pressed the molds face down into the dough.

Pressing mold down over rolled dough

This didn't work well because the shapes never got enough definition, plus this cookie recipe had some rise to it as it baked. They tasted good, even if the shapes weren't a great success.

Poor definition from the molds

I decided to try a few of my cookie stamps (and my Poppin' Fresh cookie cutter) with the same batch. 

Next I tried a half-batch of the speculoos recipe published on Daring Gourmet. I substituted regular flour for the almond flour so I could share them with our kids with nut allergies. 

After letting the dough rest overnight, I used the site's instructions for packing the dough into the mold. This method was easier, and yielded more definition. I chilled the shapes 30 min before baking 12 min at 375.

Mold filled and shaved with a knife

Baked cookies

I also had fun using a new carved rolling pin to imprint the dough. First, I rolled the dough to 1/4" thick (using rolling pin spacers), then I went over it with the carved rolling pin and cut out the shapes.

At some point, I plan to try this recipe as well.