Speculaas Rolls with Almond Paste
Submitted by omaria on December 11, 2011 at 12:26 pm

Yield: 15 Roll
Source: Uit de keuken van Arden Levine's Divine Speculaas Rolls

The dough:
500 gr. bread flour
50 gr. sugar
10 gr. speculaas spices (or a bit more for a stronger taste, formula below)
10 gr. instant yeast
185 gr. lukewarm milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
55 gr. unsalted softened butter
2 big eggs, whisked
8 gr. salt

The filling
300 gr. almond paste
± 2 TBS egg
± 30 gr. lemon zest

For video to see the shaping go to...
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/26242/levine039s-divine-speculaas-rolls

Method
Described is the method using a stand mixer, but the dough can of course also be mixed using a bread machine, as well as kneaded by hand. If using a bread machine; follow the recipe from the first rise after the machine kneading.

Put the flour, sugar, speculaas spices, yeast, salt and the clumps of softened butter in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Add milk and eggs, mix together, and knead with a dough hook for 10-15 minutes to develop a supple dough. The dough can be a little sticky.

First Rise
Transfer the dough to an oiled container, making sure it is covered all over. Cover and let the dough rise until doubled in about one hour.

Meanwhile, mix together the almond paste, egg and lemon zest. Shape into 15 equal balls.

Forming:
Turn out the dough on a lightly oiled work surface. Divide the dough in 15 equal pieces and shape them into tight balls. Leave them to rest for 15 minutes.

Flatten the balls of dough in the palm of your hand or with your rolling pin. Put a ball of almond paste in the center and fold in the almond paste, making sure to pinch the seams well.

Put the ball seam down on your working space and roll out again carefully, making sure it keeps its circular shape and the almond paste is spread out evenly. With a dough cutter make eight slits in the dough, leaving the center intact. Then pair up two petals, twist them so that their sides touch and the almond paste is showing as a swirl. Pinch them together on the bottom.

Divide the rolls on 2 baking sheets, placing them with enough space in between. Carefully flatten the rolls on the baking paper or baking mat. Cover well with oiled cling film and leave to proof until almost doubled in size, in almost an hour.

Baking:
Bake the rolls in the middle of a preheated oven for about 15 minutes until golden on 180° C. Put them on a rack to cool.

Speculaas Spices; home made
30 g cinnamon
10 g cloves
10 g nutmeg
5 g white pepper
5 g aniseed
5 g coriander seed

Mix all ground spices together and store in a small airtight container.

There are many varieties and tweaks out there, I really like this one. As long as the base is the same, you can tweak your speculaas spices, just the way you like it.

Enjoy! Please feel free to comment and subscribe if you want me to keep you updated. Also I want to ask you to endorse my growing BreadLab initiative on Facebook; every like gets me closer to realizing a 6 episode "breadomentary", chasing the beast bread the world has to offer. Thanks in advance!

comments
Submitted by Mrs Cindy on Sun, 2011-12-11 22:57.
I went to Facebook and found The Bread Lab. Hope it was the right place because I 'liked' it. Gosh, Ria, these rolls look spectacular! This recipe has already found its way to my recipe box. My mouth is watering. I know this is one I will make and report back to you on.
~Cindy

Submitted by frick on Mon, 2011-12-12 21:00.
Ria, your rolls are Speculaas-tacular; I WANT TO MAKE THEM NOW, but I don't have time. Waaaaaah!
Still, I'm copying the recipe (and though the almond paste sounds wonderful) I can't help thinking of how the same technique can be used with other fillings, date filling for instance, and cheese with orange zest, and so on.
Gee, that plate looks familiar.
Please don't wait so long to find us some other magical goodies. Thanks, kiddo.

Submitted by mhang on Sun, 2012-01-08 15:47.
I look at the almond recipes in any book, hard or Kindle, first. I lived in Denmark and "Yugoslavia", as a young one and I am always trying to find the almond pastry I remember from those 2 countries. I will definitely try this one and let you know. I will also look at facebook.
Thanks,
Martie

• This topic was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.