Name: Hasseltse speculaas
Yield: Makes 14–22 speculaas
Cuisine: Belgian
Ingredients: 50 ml (1¾ fl oz) full-fat milk; 10 g (⅜ oz) ground cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon ground cloves or allspice; ⅛ teaspoon sea salt; 1 egg; 175 g (6 oz) unsalted butter, softened; 325 g (11½ oz) dark brown sugar; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) white rye or plain flour; 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Preparation info

Makes
14–22
speculaas

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Dark Rye and Honey Cake

By Regula Ysewijn

Published 2023

About

Hasseltse speculaas is a free-form soft speculaas with mild flavour that comes from the town of Hasselt. It is sold in large flat loaves or speculaas the size of the palm of an adult hand. What is distinctive about this speculaas is that it has tears in its surface created by the bicarbonate of soda. It isn’t a Hasseltse speculaas without it and you can only obtain the right kind of cracks by resting the dough.

The bakery around the corner from my high school had many old-fas