Autumnal Speculaas Brownies

I really love brownies. And I really love experimenting with brownies. You can do so much with them! For example, I made these lemon and ginger brownies last year and they were delicious. So a few weeks back, when I was feeling all autumnal and stuff and the idea for these brownies popped into my head I was excited immediately. And boy, was I right to be.

THEY ARE SO GOOD.

I’ve used speculaas in quite a few of my recipes on this blog already, and I always feel a bit conflicted, since it’s a typically Dutch biscuit and I’ve got no clue if you can get them elsewhere (except for Belgium or Germany). I really really love speculaas, though, so I’m going to put up this recipe anyway, and provide a few alternatives in the list of ingredients! For example, if you’re in the UK, you could try using Ginger Nuts instead – it would be slightly different, but really tasty still, I think.

As for the rest of the recipe; it’s just like all of my other brownie recipes – very simple, just throw in the extra ingredients along the way, and you’ve got yourself a delicious brownie with a little twist.

You’ll need… (for 20 brownies) 

• 120 g salted butter
• 160 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 70 g plain flour
• 200 g chocolate (extra dark, at least 70% cocoa)
• 75 g speculaas/speculoos biscuits (I used kruidnoten, which is the easiest option for all you Dutchies out there – you can also use Ginger Nuts or any other type of spiced biscuits)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (or speculaas spices, if you can get your hands on them)
• optional for decoration: chocolate kruidnoten (you can also use some more speculaas biscuits)
• baking tin, 20 x 24 cm
• and an oven, of course! These brownies need to be baked at 150 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Melt the chocolate You can melt the chocolate in the microwave, but I always prefer to melt it au bain marie style (don’t know what au bain marie is? I explain in this recipe)

2. Mix sugar and butter While the chocolate is melting the next order of business is to mix the sugar with the butter. For this recipe, you can just melt the butter (I used the microwave) and then mix it together with the sugar.

3. Add eggs So, now you’ve mixed the butter with the sugar it’s time to add the eggs one by one, and whisk them through.

4. Add flour, cinnamon and roughly chopped biscuits/kruidnoten Once you’ve added the eggs and whisked them through your batter, you should add the flour and cinnamon and mix them through. Then also add the biscuits or kruidnoten (whichever you’re using). These should be roughly chopped, so you get nice chunks of biscuit within your brownie. Mix it all together.

5. Add melted chocolate Now, it’s time to add the pièce de résistance; the melted chocolate! Whisk this through as well. Do make sure your chocolate isn’t piping hot when you add it, as it might scramble the eggs. It’s best to wait for a few minutes after taking it off the heat.

6. Transfer batter to tin and bake! Butter and flour your baking tin, and then pour your batter into the tin and make sure it’s evenly spread out. Put the tin into the preheated oven and bake the brownies at 150 °C. The total baking time is 25 minutes, but if you want to add the decoration, you should take the tin out of the oven after 17 minutes, arrange the kruidnoten or chopped biscuits any way you like (pressing them slightly into the batter). Then put the tin back into the oven for another 8 minutes.

And that’s it! Your own delicious autumnal, spiced brownies! Enjoy!