January's Daring Bakers Challenge: Gevulde Speculaas

I have no idea where January went, but suddenly I found myself QUICKLY looking at the deadline for this month's baking challenge, which was a Dutch pastry called gevulde speculaas. I was intrigued by this challenge because (a) I'd never heard of gevulde speculaas before and (b) it required me to make my own almond paste. Cool!

Fortunately for my 11th-hour approach to this month's challenge, the recipe wasn't difficult to complete in a timely fashion. I made the almost paste last night and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. I saved myself quite a bit of time by purchasing almonds without their skins (whew). This morning, I made the dough, assembled the layers of dough and almond paste, and then baked the final product.

The original recipe called for whole almonds to be placed on top, but I had plenty of the slivered almonds (and no whole almonds), so used those instead. (The kids enjoyed helping me sprinkle the almonds... Conor also enjoyed poking his finger through the layers in of dough and almond paste in the pan... whoops!)

The final product smelled really good (and reminded us of how our kitchen smells when I make molasses cookies) and tasted quite yummy, too. I've decided they'd be ideal with a dollop of whipped cream on top for a little added "ooomph". All in all, this gets our thumbs up!

Francijn of Koken in de Brouwerij was our January 2013 Daring Bakers’ Hostess and she challenged us to make the traditional Dutch pastry, Gevulde Speculaas from scratch! That includes making our own spice mix, almond paste and dough! Delicious!