Bake the Best Speculaas Cookies: Spekulatius Vanilla Oreos

You might know Spekulatius Cookies as Speculaas Cookies or Speculoos Cookies here in the US. They originate in the Netherlands and are thin, crisp cookies that ususaly come in the shape of windmills. But what if we bake them thicker and fill them with a wonderful vanilla cream like Oreos? You’ll get the best of two countries! If you are not familiar with the cookies, you might have come across a spreadable version as “Cookie Butter”.

Old Fashioned Speculaas / Spekulatius

Traditionally, the Dutch shape the Speculaas Cookies in wooden molds with Windmills and some other shapes. The mold’s history goes back like 500 years and you can find many of them in museums or private collections. However, I was just recently told by one of my subscribers that he purchased an antique set of them last year – how lucky!

To make them, you need to put the dough into the floured mold, press it in and then release the shaped dough onto the baking sheet for baking.

Traditionally, the Speculoos cookies were baked by the Dutch and Germans to be eaten at St. Nicolas Day, which is on December 6th.

How to make Speculaas Cookies with Cream Filling

Homemade Speculaas Spice

The unique and wonderful taste of Speculaas comes from a mix of 10 spices. You might find it difficult to get the spice mix for Spekulatius in the US and other parts of the world. So I made a video and printable recipe for you on how to make the Speculaas Spice Mix at home. If you don’t want to go through that trouble or can’t get all spices: There a some people on Etsy who sell Spekulatius Spice Mixes. I’m not sure though it the sellers use the same recipe as I. Some recipes contain white pepper, which is another version but probably good, too.

You can use the spice mix in other recipes, too! Spice your Thanksgiving cupcakes with it and use it instead of your pumpkin spice mix. It is also a great spice to make homemade cookie butter!

Modern Speculoos Version

While traditional cookies are delicious and sometimes even get better with some sliced Almonds baked in, here is a new approach to them. I didn’t come up with the idea and I first learned about it in a video of “Beas Rezepte und Ideen” – a German Youtube Channel that I like to watch. She showed the recipe with a vanilla cream filling and the result looks like Oreos while the taste is of course different. I tried this recipe last year and I just couldn’t stop baking and eating them. I sticked to her original recipe but often I find the vanilla filling to be not enough. So, maybe you want to increase the quantities for the filling or just eat some of the cookies without the filling.

But if you prefer to stick to the traditional cookies, just use this recipe without the cream filling and also, feel free to bake them in any shape or thickness to your liking.

The Cookie Cutter

Beside the great taste of these Speculaas Oreos, I was also fascinated by the cookie cutter she was using. It not only cuts the cookies, but also leaves an impression of a motive and a pretty rim. I was happy to discover that the cookie cutter is available in the US, too, and got me a set of it. OMG! How much fun it is to use this and have different designs to choose from. You can find the cookie cutter on amazon here: https://amzn.to/3l1vYdB . (affiliate link)

Pin Speculaas Cookies / Spekulatius Cookies to Pinterest

Spekulatius Cookies – with Cream Filling

Barbara

4 from 1 vote

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Equipment

cookie cutter: https://amzn.to/3l1vYdB

pastry bag: https://amzn.to/2JGDOLZ

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

Dough Ingredients

• 250 g AP Flour
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 50 g Almond Flour or ground Almonds
• 120 g Sugar
• 8 g Spekulatius Spice
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 100 g Butter
• ¼ tsp. Almond Extract
• 1 ct. Egg

Cream Filling

• 50 g Butter soft
• 100 g Confectioners Sugar
• 1 tbsp. Milk hot
• ¼ tsp. Vanilla Extract

Instructions

 

Make the Cookies

• Put all ingredients for the dough into a large mixing bowl and knead with a hand mixer or machine.
• Give it an additional knead by hand to really incorporate all ingredients into a dough.
• Wrap the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Roll the dough out – not too thin though.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
• Cut the cookies with a cookie cutter and place them onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. This will be about 2 baking sheets.
• Bake for 10 minutes (second baking sheet a little shorter) and remove the cookies from the baking sheet immediately to cool.

Make the Creme Filling

• In a mixing bowl, whip the butter until really creamy.
• Add the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla extract and mix well.
• Put the cream into a pastry bag and cut a hole into the end.

Assembling the Cookies

• Place half of the cookies with the bottom side up in front of you.
• With the pastry bag, give a good amount of cream onto each of these cookies.
• Put the other half of the cookies on top and press slightly down so the filling spreads to the rim.
• Keep the finished cookies in an air tight container.

  Tip: If kept in the fridge, the cookies taste especially good!

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!