Friday Baking 2: Scrumptious Speculoos Biscuits

So, now you need to put your spice mix into action....

Traditional Speculoos Biscuits

This recipe makes a lot of dough, but trust me, once you have tasted the biscuits you will see why it's made in such large quantities! The dough freezes really well so you can separate it out into portions if you like, then wrap each portion in clingfilm and place them into a plastic freezer bag (this double layering prevents freezer burn and keeps the dough nice for a long time).

You will need:

200g butter, softened
250g soft brown sugar
100g demerara sugar
1 egg lightly whisked
2 tablespoons of cold water
500g plain flour
5g baking powder
5g speculoos spices

How to make the biscuits of deliciousness

1. Cream together the butter and sugars in a big bowl
2. Beat in the egg
3. Sift in the remaining (dry) ingredients
4. Kneed the dough, addding the cold water gradually.  Use just enough water to get the dough to come together.
5. Wrap in clingfilm and pop it into the fridge for at least four hours (I normally leave it overnight)
6. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
7. Dust a board lightly with flour, the dough will be a bit stiff; kneed it until it is pliable then roll it out quite thinly (4mm is about right)
8. Cut out shapes with cutters - traditionally wooden moulds are used to shape the biscuits but these are quite hard to come by in the UK.  You can use any shape, if I don't feel like using my fiddly mould I like cutting star or heart shapes but you can let your imagination run wild!
9. Place your biscuit shapes on a lined baking tray, pop in the fridge for 20 minutes then bake for between 12-15 minutes (the biscuits will spring back to the touch when they are ready)
10. Leave the biscuits to cool on the baking tray - they will be soft when you take them out but will go lovely and crisp as they cool.
11. Make a cup of tea or coffee as a reward for all of your hard work and sample your delicious creations!