Spekulatius cookies with brown butter and almonds

Spekulatius cookies made with brown butter, spelt flour, coconut sugar and speculoos spice, with slivered almonds. Crisp outside, soft inside. Family-friendly snacks, 217 kcal per cookie.

At a glance

• Serves 12
• Prep time: 50 min
• Cooking time: 26 min
• Total time: 76 min
• Calories: 217 kcal per serving
• Protein: 4 g
• Fat: 12 g
• Carbs: 23 g

Ingredients

• 120g butter
• 90g coconut sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 220g spelt flour
• 60g slivered almonds
• 2 tsp speculoos spice
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt

Method

You’ll need: oven · saucepan · baking tray · mixing bowl

1. Melt the butter in a pan and let it keep bubbling over a medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, until it smells nutty and is light brown. Pour it into a bowl and leave it to cool for 15 minutes.
2. Mix the brown butter with the coconut sugar, maple syrup and egg for 1 minute until smooth.
3. Mix the spelt flour, speculoos spice, baking powder and salt, stir them in and fold in two thirds of the slivered almonds. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (160 °C fan). Shape 12 balls, press the tops into the remaining slivered almonds and place them well apart on two baking trays lined with baking paper.
5. Bake the cookies one tray at a time at 180 °C for 11 to 13 minutes each, until the edges are golden brown and the middle is still soft.
6. Leave them to firm up on the tray for 10 minutes.

Good to know

Brown butter tastes of caramel and nuts, and that's exactly what goes with speculoos spice. The cookies are bigger and softer than classic Spekulatius, and you don't need a wooden mould. The almonds on top toast in the oven.

Swaps

Slivered almonds → chopped hazelnuts. Spelt flour → plain flour. Speculoos spice → cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Maple syrup → honey.

Cooking tips

Take the butter off the heat as soon as the milk solids at the bottom are brown – it burns quickly. Chilled dough spreads less.

Storage

Keeps for 1 week in a tin.

Allergens

Contains gluten (spelt), milk (butter), egg and almonds. Suitable for children.