Spekulatius - Spiced German Christmas Biscuits

This recipe was handed down to me by my grandmother almost 20 years ago. She used to make these according to a traditional recipe she brought to Australia from Germany in the 1950's every Christmas (along with some Spritzgebäck, but that recipe is for another time). As she got older and her health started to decline, I took up the baton and made them one year. She gifted me her set of cookie cutters (pictured), now I've been making them for nearly 20 years and hope to carry on the tradition for many years to come. They are so popular with friends, workmates and family, that everyone starts asking about them in November. This year I had to make a double batch (yielding about 200 biscuits)!

So if you're after a little Christmas treat that you can pop in some little bags and gift to your friends, that's a little shortbready, a little spicy and a little sweet, then give this one a go!

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Ingredients:

500g (1.1lbs) self raising flour

250g (0.55lbs) caster (superfine) sugar

1 heaped teaspoon vanilla sugar

2 pinches cardamom

2 pinches cloves

1 level teaspoon cinnamon

2 drops almond essence

2 eggs

6 tablespoons milk

200g (0.44lbs) unsalted butter

100g (0.22lbs) ground hazelnuts/almonds. (I do 50g (0.11lbs) of each)

For the icing/decorations (I don't list specific quantities, read the method below for instructions)

Icing (powdered/confectioners) sugar

Food colouring (I use pink food colour)

Boiling water

100s and 1000s / Sprinkles

Utensils:

Baking Trays

Baking Paper/Parchment

Cookie Cutters (I use a star, angel, bell and heart)

Kitchen Scales

Sieve

Rolling Pin

Knife/Fork/Spoon

Preheat your oven to 190C / 180C fan forced / 375F. Weigh out all of your ingredients. The way I usually make this, you'll want everything ready to go, because your hands will get dirty! Once you've got all of your ingredients in the correct quantities, jump in!

I make these directly on the kitchen bench top, however if you prefer, you can pop down a baking sheet or similar (just make sure the bench is clean!). Sift your flour onto the bench top. Make a well and add the sugar. Make more of a well for the wet ingredients.

Add the egg and 3 tablespoons of milk, then the spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla sugar and almond essence). Mix in a bit of flour and break up the egg yolk. Keep mixing in more flour/sugar until the egg/milk and spices create a thick paste.

Your butter should be cut up into small cubes, as it will be easier to mix into the dough. Start kneading everything together and after a few minutes you should see it start to combine well. If you find that there are still a few dry bits that aren't sticking to the dough, add a little bit of extra butter to the mix and continue kneading. You should end up with a ball of dough similar to the second picture.

The egg wash will be used to brush the cookies before they go into the oven. For this you will need a small bowl, crack the egg into it and add the other 3 tablespoons of milk. Use a fork to whisk the mixture until it looks like the second picture.

Prepare your baking trays by laying down some baking paper/parchment. Then lightly dust the work surface with flour to prevent the dough sticking to the benchtop. Break off a handful of dough and use the floured rolling pin to roll it out. You want a relatively thin dough maybe 5mm (0.2in) thick as they will rise slightly. But make sure you do a test batch and adjust as needed.

Once you've rolled out your dough, start cutting your shapes. I'm using 4 different cutters for variety, but this is the creative part where the options really are endless! Cut as many shapes as you can from the dough and then carefully transfer the shapes to the prepared baking tray.

Brush the shapes lightly with egg wash and then bake at 190C / 180C fan forced / 375F for 10 minutes. Again, watch your baking time and adjust time/heat accordingly. While this is happening, gather up the leftover bits of dough, roll them into a ball and then repeat the process (from Step 6) until all the dough is used.

Once they are baked cool the cookies on a cooling rack and once completely cool, lay them out on the bench or a table to decorate.

The next best part is decorating them! You can choose to decorate however you like. In my family, they have been decorated with pink icing or sprinkles forever, so why mess with tradition right!? Plus the variation is nice in the little cellophane bags when I give them as gifts.

I do a very simple icing mixture. Approximately 3-5 tablespoons of icing sugar with 4-5 teaspoons of boiling water. Mix together with a few drops of pink food colouring and you've got your pink icing. It's the same recipe for the white icing that I use under the sprinkles.

I find every time I make icing, even if I use the same quantities, the consistency is different so always start with less water and then add more water to make it more runny or more icing sugar to thicken it up. You don't want it too runny, so it stays on top of the biscuits.

I have a separate bowl with 100s and 1000s (sprinkles) and I cover the biscuit in icing and then dip it into the bowl of sprinkles to get good coverage. check out some of the pictures.

Here's an example of how I gift them (with some of the Spritzgebäck as well). But I'm also known to pop them in a Christmas themed tin and bring them to a dinner party. The most important part is enjoying them!

I hope you enjoy the process as much as I do. Post your makes below, I'd love to see them. And Merry Christmas!