Speculating on speculoos: a Belgian cookie, frequently claimed by Dutch

There is a common saying among folks who cook, and those who don't, that cooking is an art, while baking is a science.

Well, as someone who does both, Annalena wishes to say:  yes and no.  Indeed, the belief that you can substitute things in cooking is true.  But it is not an absolute.  As she points out, over and over, if you are making a recipe that calls for whole milk, in many cases you can get away with 2% milk, but not skim.  But not always.  Similarly, if a recipe calls for cashews, which are rich and unctious, and you substitute sunflower seeds (do not laugh.  It has happened), you had best be prepared for disappointment. Sometimes, you can substitute parsnips for carrots (parsnips make a wonderful cake).  Other times, you cannot (try passing off parsnip soup as carrot soup).

It is true, to a much larger extent, that you cannot substitute freely in baking.  For example, if you decide that you're going to be "healthy" and use honey instead of sugar in a recipe, first of all, you're not being healthy, and second of all, you'd better get ready for a fall.  On the other hand, in some cases, the amount of freedom you have is quite large. Let us say you are making oatmeal raisin cookies, and you don't like raisins.  Know what? You can put in chocolate chips instead.  Or nuts.  And the recipe will work.  If you are baking bread, and you wish to add some whole wheat flour to make it a bit healthier, it will work. You can't expect 100% substitution and the same product, and you may need to let the dough rise for longer, but you will get VERY good bread.

All of this is by way of an object lesson, ragazzi, as Annalena describes her adventures in making the cookie known as speculoos.

"Speculoos," strictly speaking, is a spread:  sort of the anti-nutella, for those of us who prefer spice to chocolate.  There are different mixes, but there is always cinnamon (a LOT of cinnamon), and ginger (a LOT of ginger too).  Then, there are additives.  You can get some on amazon.com.  It makes amazing ice cream, and it is terrific on bananas.

There is also a cookie called "speculoos" and sometimes called a "biscoff" wafer.  There are different variations of it.  For example, there is one where one uses a springerle mold to roll out etched cookies.  We will not be making that here.  There is also one where you roll out the dough very thin, cut it, and decorate it with sugar and white chocolate.  We will not be making that one either, ragazzi. Rather, we will be making a simple, log cookie and we will be seeing how variations and carelessness, can indeed, change your baking.  Also, we will learn how you can't judge how a recipe will turn out, by its picture.

What follows is a picture of the cookies which were to come from the recipe Annalena followed:

What that picture tells an experienced baker, is that this is a cookie which spreads in baking, like your basic butter cookie.  Chocolate chip cookies fall into this category:  you know they spread.

Now, here is a picture of what Annalena got on her SECOND run through this recipe:

Again, an experienced baker will say  "these cookies did not spread."  Indeed, they did not.  They behaved much more like a shortbread.    Does that mean Annalena did not follow the recipe?  No, it does not; however, she is now going to show you a picture of a batch she made, where she did NOT follow the recipe in a significant way:

Very different, yes?  Anyone have any idea of what she did wrong?  It's subtle.  But we will get to it.  It's an important object lesson in how to follow instructions and NOT to guess.

First, let's make some battter.  You need a stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature . Put that in the bowl of your mixture,  and start working it with a paddle, until it's nice and blended:  maybe two minutes.  While that is happening, combine 2 cups of all purpose flour, a full tablespoon of cinnamon,  a teaspoon of ginger, about a half teaspoon of fresh greated nutmeg, and  a  half teaspoon of ground cloves. Also add half a teaspoon of salt. Put that aside.

Into that creamed butter, add a half cup of brown sugar (light or dark), and a quarter cup of white sugar, and 2 tablespoons of molasses.  Work that for another three minutes.  Then add an egg, and a bit of vanilla.  When that is all combined (stop the mixer and get in there and stir it with a spatula if you need to),  add the flour and spice mixture, and blend it until it all comes together.  

Annalena did exactly this , both times.  BUT... here's where she had her issues.  Once you have the batter, you are to divide it in three equal parts, and roll each part into an 8 inch log.  The recipe is very clear on this.  Here are Annalena's first logs:

If you have any doubts as to their length, Annalena lined them up next to her 8 inch santoku knife:

OOPS.  Well, she went ahead with the recipe anyway:  each log was wrapped in foil, and frozen for at least 3 hours.  After that, she cut each log into about 30 cookies, placed them on a cookie sheet, and baked at 375, for 12 minutes.

You saw what happened.   The ones that aren't burned, taste wonderful.

Later in the day, she pulled out an 8x8 pan to measure the logs she made.  You can tell the difference:

She wrapped these in foil, just like the last batch, and let them freeze, for three hours.    When it was time to cut the cookies,  just like the last time, she took one log out at a time, and cut the cookies,  disregarding the instructions saying you needed 32 per log.  Who cares?    And, given the large degree of burning,  she reduced the baking temperature from 375 to 350.  She got cookies that taste great,  look very good, and did not burn.  As our final illustration, we have the first and second batches below:

You can tell which is which, can't you?  The ones on the bottom will get repurposed in a pie crust or something like that, and the ones at the top:  cookies for the Guyman and Annalena and friends. So, the lesson here, is NOT TO EYEBALL measurements, especially when you are making a recipe for the first time.  And to recapitulate, you have the ingredients and how to mix them above.  Form three 8 inch logs (MEASURE THEM!), freeze them for 3 hours or more, cut thin slices off of the logs, and bake them on parchment paper lined sheets for 12 minutes. 

Who needs nutella?