Tasty, spicy almond treat

Zero is what my motivation is these days. The colder it gets the more I feel the need to stay in bed. I want my winter sleep and if that's not possible at least a winter rest. I notice I hardly eat and no, I am not hungry. Saint Nicholas passed by without any presents but I did my best and baked 'kruidnoten', 'pepernoten', and what we call 'filled speculaas'.

The filled spices biscuit (cake?), we call 'gevulde speculaas', I baked was awesome but you have to like it. I used a gluten-free recipe which is FODMAP as well because it was the first one I found and my internet connection keeps low (2.2 bps this morning!). I changed it a bit because of a lack of ingredients which means it wasn't gluten-free.

Ingredients:
150 grams cornflour
100-150 grams of flour
160 grams of (brown) sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
A bit salt
2 tablespoons spices (see my other recipes!)
200 grams of butter into in small pieces

Make a dough out of it and let it rest for several hours or 1-2 days.

The filling:
Is almond paste or what we call marzipan. Marzipan is almond with sugar plus a bit of water. You can add the crest of half of a lemon if you like (I did not).

* 150 - 200 grams of almond flour or almonds you grind yourself. A machine/tool to grind coffee beans is a great help.

* 150 - 200 grams of sugar (same as you used for the almonds.

* 3-4 tablespoons of water.

* crest of 1/2 lemon

Make a ball out of it and let it rest for about one week!

After one week, before you bake it, you add 3-4 tablespoons of water, or milk, or one egg to your marzipan.

How to...
* Divide the dough into two parts.
* The first layer you put in your baking mold.
* Next you put the marzipan on it.
* Cover it with a layer of the dough
* Put some egg on the top and add some (parts of) almonds to it.

Oven:
* Temperature: 180 °C
* Baking time: 30 - 40 minutes


Almonds are very expensive and it's cheaper to buy this in a supermarket than baking it yourself but this one is more healthy than what they sell you. No chemicals, fake marzipan (soy instead of almond).

#kittywu #recipe #speculaas #december #homemade