VeganMoFo 6: Speculaas Spice Mix

I have a couple of MoFo posts planned that involve speculaas-flavoured desserts and while speculaas cookies and speculaas spice mix are widely available in the Netherlands, I realise that this is not the case for every country. Therefore, I’d like to dedicate a little post to the spice mix alone.

This is the spice mix I usually buy (Verstegen):

I thought a quick google search would provide me with the recipe for a standard speculaas spice mix, but I soon realised there is no such thing! Every mixture I found was a little different from the others. I decided I’d just go with a combination that seemed tasty to me, and with the help of the ingredient list of the Verstegen mix and a wikipedia article, I came up with this:

Speculaas Spice Mix
1 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

It took a few tries before I liked the combination, because I added a little too much white pepper at first, but this is a basic mix that works well in speculaas-flavoured things. I’m sure it could be better with some more changes, though, so if anyone has a favourite speculaas mix that they’d like to share, I’d love to know!

I used the mix to make these cookies:

Sorry for the crappy pictures, but it’s dark and rainy over here! and cold. Maybe I can get a better shot of the cookies later (if they’re not gone by tomorrow)…

The recipe is based on the one you can see on the Verstegen label above. If you’d like a downsized and slightly edited version, here’s what I did:

In a bowl, add 6 Tablespoons of margarine, 5 Tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, a small pinch of salt, and 2 Tablespoons of speculaas spices. Mix all this together and knead into a (slightly crumbly) dough. [Edit! I misread the original recipe] Now, you can add 1 to 1 1/2 Tablespoons of non-dairy milk, until your dough reaches the consistency that you’re looking for.

And of course, there are many more uses for speculaas spices than just simple (but delicious) cookies. More about that in future posts!