I really didn’t set out to bake up a horde of cookies of northern European ancestry this month, really I didn’t. I was just looking for one thing, a recipe for speculoos, the Belgian spice cookie. But then I stumbled on the banket and the jan hagels and breezed my way through batches and batches of them; I also made a series of thumbprint cookies and then realized I had somehow digressed from my original plan. I realigned myself and looked into it again and here we are with another cookie recipe and I’m really hoping that you (and your waistline) will forgive me, but I must tell you that this latest recipe is also a keeper and really easy, like the last one, and you should be like my sister was with the jan hagels and get up from your desk, leave your computer and make these. Right. Now.

Speculoos are a traditional Belgian holiday cookie, but once you try them, you might be as surprised as I was to realize that these are windmill cookies (without the windmill). Also called speculaas in Dutch, my very old edition of Joy of Cooking also has a recipe for speculatius cookies. All of these names are probably derived from the Latin word, specula, meaning mirror, because it’s traditional to roll them out and cut them into shapes or use a mold to press them into elaborate images of saints, especially St. Nicholas. One more thing that I love about this recipe is that it has no eggs, so I was able to give some to my niece, Jessica, who has an egg allergy. She’s also a really picky eater. They won her full approval.

speculoos, speculaas or speculatius cookies

• 1 lb (4 sticks) butter
• 2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/2 t ground cloves
• 1/2 t ground ginger
• 4 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup sliced almonds

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and brown sugar with a hand mixer (or a stand mixer), add sour cream. Sift together flour, soda and spices and add to butter and sugar mixture. Stir in nuts. Form dough into 2 inch high and 4 inch wide rectangle. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight. Cut into slices (thinner for a crisp cookie, thicker for a cookie with more chew) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.