Gevulde Speculaas

I baked these yesterday after a long stint of studying. Speculaas are spiced shortbread biscuits, which I absolutely love. I found a recipe that filled the speculaas with a soft marzipan, and wow, they taste so good! Soft and sweet, with a good spice kick - this Dutch recipe is something special :) I adapted the spice blend from the recipe I found to what I had in my cupboard - namely ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice, and it worked really well (if not completely traditional).
Give it a go, and you'll be surprised how delicious these are :)

Makes 12 thick biscuits

Ingredients:

For the biscuit dough:

• 100g (1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp) softened butter/margarine
• 100g (1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp) soft dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 180g (1 & 2/3 cups) plain flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1/3 tsp salt

For the almond paste filling:

• 200g (1 & 2/3 cups) ground almonds
• 150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
• 1 egg
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 60g mixed candied peel

To finish:

• 15g (1 tbsp) melted butter
• 1 egg
• 30g (1/3 cup) whole blanched almonds

Method:

1. To make the biscuit dough, beat the butter and brown sugar together until all of the sugar has dissolved, and the mixture is soft and spreadable.

2. Add the milk, flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices, and bring the dough together with a spoon/your hands. It seems very dry at first but should come together to a soft dough after a few minutes. If not, add a splash more milk.

3. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

4. Make the almond paste by pouring the ground almonds, sugar, lemon juice and egg into a food processor/ high-speed blender. Pulse until well mixed and the almonds have broken down into a paste (and no more sugar can be seen).

5. Add the lemon zest and mixed peel and pulse briefly to mix through. Set aside whilst the biscuit dough is chilling.

6. Preheat your oven to 190c (170c fan)/375f/ gas mark 5. Grease the base of a 20 x 30cm baking tray and line with baking parchment OR if like me, you never have baking parchment in, dust generously with flour.

7. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to form a rectangle about 30 x 20cm big (1/2 cm wide). Brush with melted butter.

8. Place the almond paste down the centre of the long side of the rectangle.

9. Wrap the sides and top of the biscuit dough over the almond paste, covering it.

10. Press the dough together at any seams to seal. Gently transfer to the baking tray.

11. Use a pastry brush to brush the top and sides of the dough with the beaten egg. Decorate with the blanched almonds, then brush over with the remaining egg.

12. Bake for around 30 minutes, until the almonds are golden and the dough begins to go brown. Allow to completely cool before slicing into thick biscuits.

13. Enjoy! These will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container.