Sunday 28 April 2013

Gevulde Speculaas (Dutch Spiced Almond Pie)


This pie is one of the best things I've cooked all year - I can't recommend it enough! It's a great idea, the pastry is made from delicious spiced Speculaas dough and it's filled with gorgeous almonds. There isn't much else to say - just go and make it and you won't be sorry!

I've adapted this from a recipe on a great blog called The Dutch Table, which has loads of Dutch recipes. It's also run by a very nice person called Nicole who was more than helpful in advising me on my Dutch food month. It's so lovely to meet new and friendly people all over the world. Of course, being me - I have changed it up a bit to suit my personal taste! I just can't help myself.


Gevulde Speculaas
Adapted from The Dutch Table

Ingredients 
1 batch of Speculaas Dough (note: preferably needs to be made the night before)
1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup confectioners/icing sugar
1/3 cup water
1 pinch cinnamon

To Make
1. Hop over to this recipe and make the Speculaas dough the night before and leave it in the fridge overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Soak the blanched almonds in hot water for fifteen minutes.
3. Drain the almonds and set aside some for decorating (between 10-14 should do it). Place the remaining in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped, should only take a few pulses.
4. Tip the chopped almonds into a bowl and stir through the sugar, cinnamon and water.
5. Take the dough out of the fridge and cut in in half. Place on a floured bench space. Dust your rolling pin with flour and roll out half of the dough to a circle which will fit across the bottom of your pie dish (use a medium to large size shallow pie dish - preferably with a removable bottom!).
6. Transfer the rolled out pastry to the bottom of the dish. It might break up a bit as you move it, but just patch it up but pressing more dough into it (doesn't have to be neat, nobody will see it).
7. Spread the almond filling on top of the pie base. Roll out the top and place it on the top of the pie. Use any remaining pastry to decorate the top and press the almonds you set aside into the top.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and cooked on top.



This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food from The Netherlands.
Check out my other Dutch recipe posts:


9 comments:

  1. This sounds absolutely awesome & looks absolutely delicious. I think I'm definitely going to have to make this one (as opposed to just dreaming about making it:)).

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  2. Made this one with a group of friends - very nice:)

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    1. So glad you liked it! It is one of my favourite recipes on the blog :)

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  3. Hi Keely,

    I am planning to adopt your recipe as part of a vegan sweets workshop tomorrow at my home in Haifa, Israel. I tried to veganize the Gevulde Speculaas in the past (http://30metriquadri.blogspot.com/2013/01/torta-biscottosa-di-marzapane.html), but although very tasty, it was far from the authentic Dutch taste. Should the filling really be finely chopped and not smooth as marzipan? Is 1 cup of almonds enough (is it your picture in this post)?

    Amit.

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    1. Hi Amit, yes the pictures are my own pictures of the one I made exactly from the recipe above. 1 cup of almonds was sufficient to fill my pie dish, but you can always add more. It's probably more authentic to have the almonds as a smoother paste, however, I left them a bit chunky because I like it that way.

      I hope your workshop goes well! Thanks for stopping in :)

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  4. The workshop was awesome and your recipe was the favorite of the night.
    https://www.facebook.com/shohamit/media_set?set=a.10201032924687300&type=1

    Thanks for your help,
    Amit.

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    Replies
    1. That looks like loads of fun Amit - and I think you picked great desserts to make! Pecan Pie and Basbousa are two of my favourite desserts! Feel free to post any pictures of your gevulde speculaas to my wall on facebook. :)

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  5. These look delicious!!!

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