Windmill cookies! Be still, my childhood heart!

I recently read about the new Gourmet Cookie Book and that therein lies a recipe for Speculaas. Not familiar with these, I did a little research and lo and behold! They are actually my favorite windmill cookies that were served at snack time by every school or day care I ever went to! Maybe this is a northern thing, I have asked several people here if they know what I'm talking about to no avail. Anyway, real speculaas are a very traditional Dutch cookie. They kind of remind me of sugar cookies, except that they are a deep brown and spiced warmly, dotted with toasted almonds. I made a lot of cookies this weekend and these seemed to be the hit.

This recipe is from Gourmet but please note my changes at the bottom because I had some issues.

Ingredients

3 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground aniseed

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ginger or white pepper

2 stick (1 cup) butter, softened

1½ cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons milk

¼ cup flour (for rolling the dough)

2-3 cups blanched almonds, chopped lengthwise

2-3 lightly beaten egg whites

Directions

Published in Gourmet in 1971, these cookies have been baked in the Netherlands for centuries.

Into a bowl, sift together 3 cups flour, baking powder, spices and salt. In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter with brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in milk. Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until it is well combined and form the dough into a ball. Knead the dough on a board sprinkled with flour. Roll it into a rectangle ¼-inch thick. With a sharp knife or cutter, cut the dough into rectangles 2½ inches by 1½ inches. Put the rectangles on a buttered cookie sheet. Decorate them with blanched almonds by gently pushing the nuts into the dough. Brush cookies with lightly beaten egg white. Bake the cookies at 375 degrees 12-15 minutes, or until they are firm.

My notes: I had neither ground clove or aniseed but I think it's perfectly acceptable to add more ginger and pepper or maybe if you're adventurous, some cardamom. I mixed the dough as directed and it seemed awfully dry so I added an egg. That seemed to do the trick and then I was able to roll it out just fine. I also skipped the egg whites at the end and just pushed the almonds into the dough, which worked fine and then I didn't have to think about what to do with those egg yolks. Also, I am pretty generous with the almonds but I probably used 1/2 cup of blanched, toasted almonds and that was plenty. (I had all those leftover almonds and so it inspired me to make chocolate financiers but I am stopping here!)