{"id":795,"date":"2015-10-23T16:27:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T14:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=795"},"modified":"2025-03-17T18:50:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T17:50:33","slug":"spekulatius-biscuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/spekulatius-biscuits\/","title":{"rendered":"Spekulatius biscuits"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/spekulatiussmall.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15053\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/spekulatiussmall.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/spekulatiussmall-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>A Spekulatius is a special form of flat, slightly-browned, rectangular biscuit (cookie) that typically appears in Viennese shops in great numbers during the Christmas period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dry, spicy biscuit you might not normally eat but, heh, Christmas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Always has a surface motif and a hole somewhere<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Not unique to Austria; the Dutch, Belgians and Germans also make it<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Book a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/en\/concerts-opera-vienna-tickets-l206741\/?partner=visitingvienna&amp;tq_campaign=LG_Xmas\" rel=\"sponsored\">concert experience<\/a>* for your Vienna trip<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/christmas-in-vienna\/\">Christmas in Vienna<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/christmas-biscuits\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"791\">Viennese Christmas cookies<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What&#8217;s it like?<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/spekulatiusfront.jpg\" alt=\"Front of a Spekulatius biscuit\" class=\"wp-image-45133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/spekulatiusfront.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/spekulatiusfront-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Note the hole in the middle)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The various types of Spekulatius are not really considered a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/eatingdrinking\/food\/christmas-biscuits\/\">Christmas biscuit<\/a> (<em>Weihnachtskekse<\/em>) as such, but they are associated with the Christmas season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which sounds confusing, so let me explain&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You won&#8217;t find the biscuits in your typical presentation boxes and trays filled with an assortment of <em>Weihnachtskekse<\/em>. However, you will find standalone boxes of Spekulatius appearing on supermarket shelves toward the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three things distinguish this advent favourite from normal biscuits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The biscuit&#8217;s surface normally forms a picture of some sort, stamped into the dough before baking. Traditionally, this would be a scene from the story of St. Nicklaus (hence the Christmas association). Now it&#8217;s just as likely to be a farmhouse or tree.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A hole normally appears somewhere in the biscuit, often as an integral part of the picture illustrated on the surface.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Spices are usually present to give the Spekulatius its notable flavour. Popular options include cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>An 1899 recipe for Spekulatius in the <em>Wiener Illustrierte Frauen Zeitung<\/em> paper, for example, required:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A pound of butter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>9 eggs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2.5 pounds of sugar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4.5 pounds of flour<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 teaspoons of cinnamon<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One ground nutmeg<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Half a teaspoon of finely-grounded cloves<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8230;and just a pinch of ammonium carbonate (whose German name translates rather delightfully as deer horn salt).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/spekulatiusrear.jpg\" alt=\"Rear of a Spekulatius biscuit\" class=\"wp-image-45134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/spekulatiusrear.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/spekulatiusrear-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(A popular version with embedded almond flakes)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might come across numerous variations on the theme, but the Viennese seem to have a particular fondness for the nut version, where the back of the biscuit contains thin slices of almonds (as pictured above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another common alternative is the butter version, which involves more&#8230;well&#8230;butter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider giving the Spekulatius a try if here during Advent, simply because the flavour is really quite distinctive. I&#8217;ve grown to quite like them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, I wouldn&#8217;t recommend this seasonal biscuit as a suitable gift for taking home. The dough doesn&#8217;t rise much, leaving them quite brittle and fragile. So they might not survive the journey in one piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For better ideas for souvenirs and gifts, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/shopping\/souvenirs\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"2090\">try these suggestions<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Spekulatius is a special form of flat, slightly-browned, rectangular biscuit (cookie) that typically appears in Viennese shops in great numbers during the Christmas period. What&#8217;s it like? (Note the hole in the middle) The various types of Spekulatius are not really considered a Christmas biscuit (Weihnachtskekse) as such, but they are associated with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-food","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81351,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions\/81351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}