Gevulde speculaas (Dutch almond paste filled spiced cookies)

Posted: March 2, 2024 Last modified: November 7, 2024

I love everything speculaas, it’s the Dutch version of gingerbread. Gevulde speculaas is a traditional Dutch pastry that most people make for Sinterklaas, a Dutch holiday. Is exists of 2 layers of speculaas cookie with a good layer of almond paste in between. It’s delicious!

About Gevulde speculaas

We love the combination of almonds and speculaas in The Netherlands. Filled speculaas is the most popular Dutch treat with these two flavors. The cookie layers are made with speculaas spices and the almonds are needed for the layer of almond filling.

December 5th is our holiday Sinterklaas (he is the Dutch Santa Claus), and the gevulde speculaas is one of the most popular snacks for this day. Other sweet treats that are popular for Sinterklaas are pepernoten (little spiced cookies), marzipan figures, banketstaaf (almond paste filled puff pastry log) and more!

If you want to buy this in store, you need to be in The Netherlands at the right time, because it’s not sold year-round. Most stores will start selling it in august or september and it’s available trough the beginning of december. Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat mid-November, and after that moment al Sinterklaas treats are becoming really popular. And after Sinterklaas, we’re getting ready for Christmas.

Baking Dutch almond paste filled spice cookies

Unlike the gevulde speculaas in stores, I prefer a little more speculaas cookie and less almond paste. You can see in my pictures that there is a modest layer of almond paste in between. Just right for me.

That’s the beauty of homemaking, you make it just the way you like it. This recipe calls for filled speculoos with a modest layer of almond paste, but make it just the way you like it. Do you prefer a thick layer of almond paste? Just put more in between, it’s that easy!

About the ingredients

Most ingredients are easy to find, no matter where you live. But other are maybe a bit harder when you don’t live in The Netherlands. Speculaas spice mix for example, but I have my own recipe for that so you can make it yourself!

Flour: I just use self-rising flour, it’s perfectly fine for this recipe.
Sugar: If you live in The Netherlands or maybe even Belgium: use dark brown ‘basterdsuiker’. If that’s not available where you live, use another dark brown sugar.
Speculaas spices: THE key ingredient if you ask me. I always make my own spice mix because I think it better than the store bought ones. And it’s very easy to make this spice blend as well. I shared my recipe for speculaas spice mix before. I like to use a lot of speculaas spices in my recipes, but you can adjust the amount of spices to your liking.
Salt: No special salts needed for this recipe. And you only need a pinch for the cookie dough.
Butter: I use unsalted butter and add cubes of cold butter to the dry ingredients for the speculaas dough. No need for this ingredient to be on room temperature.
Milk: A little milk is enough to make sure you have a nice firm dough.
Almond paste: Key ingredient number two! This is the filling for between the two layers of cookie dough. I have a recipe for easy almond paste so you can make it yourself. You only need almond flour, sugar, eggs, a little lemon zest and maybe a food processor.
Egg: The egg is for two things: the first half is used for the almond paste, to make it a bit more creamy. The second half is for a simple egg wash before you put your speculaas in the oven. Just beat the egg and use a pastry brush for the egg wash.
Almonds: I use almond halves for decoration. It’s optional, but I think it makes the result really pretty. If you can’t find almond halves, whole almonds are fine too.

Can I use a different baking pan?

Absolutely. In this recipe, I use a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inch) square pan, but you can also use a baking pan with a similar surface area. Want to convert the recipe to a round pan? Use my conversion calculator. If you use the button in my recipe card (below the small picture), all the ingredients will be filled in automatically for you.

Can I make gevulde speculaas without eggs?

Yes, you can. You can easily replace the egg processed through the almond paste with 20 ml of milk (dairy-free or otherwise) or applesauce. In this case, use (oat)milk instead of the egg wash as well.

Can I use marzipan instead of almond paste?

I suppose you can, but I don’t recommend it because marzipan is much sweeter and has a different structure.

My speculaas dough was very moist and sticky after sitting in the fridge, how is that possible?

Maybe you added too much milk or didn’t wrap the dough properly before putting it in the fridge and condensation formed on the dough.

How do you fix it? Simple: add a little extra flour to the dough and dust your countertop well with flour before rolling out.

Can I make speculaas cookies with this recipe?

Of course! I use it for smaller speculaas cookies often.

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Gevulde speculaas (Dutch almond paste filled speculaas cookies)

The best filled speculaas are the ones you make at home! In my case, this should include a not too thick layer of almond paste, but this is up to you.

Prep Time15

Cook Time40

Total Time55

Servings: portions

20 x 20 cm baking pan (8 x 8 inch)

Ingredients

Metric | US Customary

Cookie dough

300 grams self-rising flour
150 grams dark brown sugar
5 tsp speculaas spice mix
Pinch of salt
125 grams butter cold
6-8 tbsp milk

Filling and decoration

300 grams almond paste
1 egg
Milk for brushing
Half almonds for garnish

Instructions

Mix the self-rising flour, sugar, speculaas spice mix and salt. Add the butter and milk and knead into a firm ball of dough. Start with 6 tablespoons of milk, if the dough is too stiff you can add more milk.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. You can process and bake it immediately, but the flavor will be much better if you let it rest.
Mix the almond paste with half of the beaten egg and knead well. This makes it easier to work with and gives it a better and tastier texture.
Take half of the dough and roll it out to 20 x 20 cm. Place in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Spread the almond paste mixture evenly. Roll out the remaining dough and place on top of the almond paste.
Brush the top with the remaining beaten egg. Garnish with almonds and top with another layer of egg wash.
Bake the filled speculaas for 40 minutes at 180°C/350℉ (conventional oven) or until done.

How to store

In an airtight container for at least a week outside the refrigerator. In the freezer up to 3 months.

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Gevulde speculaas (Dutch almond paste filled spiced cookies)

About Gevulde speculaas