SweetNina Beckers

Stuffed Speculaas

SweetNina Beckers
Stuffed Speculaas

This treat is a spiced sweet shortbread stuffed with marzipan (or in the Belgium and the Netherlands we make it with ‘amandelspijs’).

A few factors to keep in mind for good stuffed speculaas:

  • Allowing the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 min to allow the flavours to develop (and the dough to rest).

  • The right proportion of speculaas to marzipan (i.e. a thick layer of marzipan between thin layers of speculaas);

  • Don’t be afraid of the amount of spices. This will give it that kick of flavour that brings you right back in time during Saint-Nicholas!

Ready for layering

Ready for layering

Last layer of speculaas

Last layer of speculaas

Baked precious

Baked precious

Ingredients (=/- 14 squares) :

Dough

  • 100 g unsalted butter (soft)

  • 100 g brown sugar

  • 1 tablespoon of milk

  • 185 g plain flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate

  • zeste of 1 orange

  • good pinch of salt

Spice mix*

  • 1 tablespoon of cinnamon

  • 1 teaspoon of grounded ginger

  • 1 teaspoon of grounded nutmeg

  • 1/2  teaspoon of grounded cloves

  • 1/2 teaspoon of grounded cardamom

  • 1/2 teaspoon of fennel powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon of coriander powder

Filling

  • 600 g Marzipan**

Finishing touch

  • Handful of almonds

  • 1 egg

  • 15 g melted butter

* I created my own spice mix tailored to the flavours I like, but instead you can buy a spice mix ‘speculaaskruiden’ and use 2 tablespoons for this recipe.

**In Belgium we have ‘amandelspijs’. I prefer using this because it contains more almonds (ratio almonds sugar 1:2) compared to marzipan (ratio almonds sugar 1:3).

Extra materials: Food processor (e.g Kenwood) with K- hook, scale, brush, dough roller, baking tin of 20×30, cling film, parchment paper

Directions:

  1. Weight all you dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

  2. For the dough combine the sugar, zeste of orange, milk and the soft butter in the food processor with the K-hook and mix till combined. Tip: make sure the butter is really soft so take it out the fridge on time.

  3. Mix in your dry ingredients (start with a few spoons and gradually add the rest) and keep mixing until you have a soft dough. If the dough appears too sticky, just add a bit of extra flour.

  4. Wrap the dough in a cling film and let in rest in the fridge for at least 30 min.

  5. While you let you dough rest, roll out your marzipan (or ‘amandelspijs’) in the form that fits your baking tin. Make sure you don’t roll your marzipan too thin (+/- 3 cm).

  6. After 30 min, take your dough out of the fridge divide in 2 pieces.

  7. Roll out each piece of dough between 2 lightly flowered sheets of parchment paper in the form of your baking tin till (+/- 1-2 cm).

  8. Place one sheet of dough in the parchment covered baking tin. Place the thick marzipan layer on top and cover with the second sheet of dough.

  9. Wisk the egg and brush it gently over your dough. Finish with he almonds by pressing then into the dough.

  10. Place the pastry in a pre heated oven of 180°C and bake for 30 minutes.

  11. Once cooled, you can cut the pastry in 14 squares.

    Store this snack in an air-tight container at room temperature up to 4-5 days. If they get a bit dry after a few days, just put them in a preheated (180°C) oven for about 5 min.