Gluten-Free Spekulatius: Spiced Christmas Biscuits

Gluten-free Spekulatius are the thin, crisp spice biscuits of Christmas in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, traditionally pressed into a carved wooden mould so a picture stands out on top. This recipe uses a 250 g home blend of white rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch, bound with 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum (or psyllium), plus ground almonds, brown sugar, butter, egg and five single spices: cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and ginger. No mould? A cutter works too. One batch makes about 40 to 50 biscuits, baked for 10 to 12 minutes at 175 °C.

This recipe started as our Spekulatius bake-along from December 2025 and has been reworked: the same rice flour, potato starch and tapioca blend as our gluten-free Linzer cookies, single spices instead of a ready-made mix, and two ways to shape the dough. Rice flour and starches do the job of wheat flour here, and chilling firms up the butter dough for the mould. Four labels deserve a look before you start: the flours and starches (what to check on rice flour), the baking powder (what to check on baking powder), the ground almonds (what to look for on almonds) and, if you use one, a ready-made Spekulatius spice mix (single spices and blends). What the xanthan gum does in the dough is explained in our Flour Library page on xanthan gum. If a pack leaves you unsure, run it through Label Lab.

Gluten-Free Spekulatius: Spiced Christmas Biscuits

Thin, crisp spiced Christmas biscuits made with rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch, ground almonds, brown sugar and five single spices, pressed in a Spekulatius mould or cut out.

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings: 40 biscuits

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Belgian, Dutch, German

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

 

MetricUS

 

1x2x3x?

Flour blend (250 g)

• 125 g white rice flour fine; check the label
• 75 g potato starch check the label
• 50 g tapioca starch check the label

Dough

• 1 tsp xanthan gum or 1 level tsp psyllium husk powder, not both; check the label
• ½ tsp baking powder check the label
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 50 g ground almonds check the label
• 125 g light brown sugar packed
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar or ½ tsp vanilla extract; check the label
• 150 g cold butter about 10 tbsp, cubed
• 1 egg medium
• 1 to 2 tbsp milk only if needed

Spices (single, ground)

• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground ginger

To shape

• 2 tbsp potato starch for dusting the mould or the cutter
• 30 g flaked almonds optional, for the backs; check the label

Method

 

1. Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum (or psyllium), baking powder, salt, ground almonds, brown sugar, vanilla sugar and all five spices. Rub any lumps of brown sugar between your fingers so the spices spread evenly.
   
2. Rub in the butter: Add the cold butter cubes and rub them into the dry mix with your fingertips until it looks like coarse, sandy crumbs and no big pieces of butter are left.
   
3. Bring the dough together and chill: Add the egg (and the vanilla extract, if you use it instead of vanilla sugar) and knead briefly, just until the dough holds together. Only if it stays crumbly, add milk a teaspoon at a time: the dough should be firm, not sticky. Press it into a flat disc, wrap it and chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
   
4. Shape with a mould or a cutter: Heat the oven to 175 °C top and bottom heat (160 °C fan, 350 °F) and line two baking trays with baking paper. With a Spekulatius mould: dust the carved side with potato starch and tap out the excess, press a piece of dough firmly into it and trim it level with a knife, then knock the edge of the mould firmly on the worktop until the biscuit drops out, and set it on the tray. With a cutter: roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper to 3 to 4 mm and cut out shapes; a cookie stamp or an embossed rolling pin still gives you a pattern. Press flaked almonds onto the backs if you like. If the dough gets soft, chill the shaped biscuits on the tray for 10 minutes.
   
5. Bake: Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges turn light golden; small or thin biscuits are done sooner. Leave them on the tray for 5 minutes.
   
6. Cool and store: Lift them onto a wire rack and let them cool completely: they come out of the oven soft and turn crisp as they cool. Keep them in an airtight tin, apart from soft cookies, for about 2 weeks.
   

Notes

Coeliac notes
• Flours and starches: rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch contain no gluten, but buy packs labelled gluten-free, because some are packed where wheat is handled. Using a ready-made gluten-free flour blend instead? Check its label too, and if it already contains xanthan gum, add none.
• Baking powder: most use a corn, potato or rice starch filler, but some use wheat flour or wheat starch. In the EU and UK wheat is named on the label; one labelled gluten-free settles it.
• Ground almonds: almonds contain no gluten, but some are processed where wheat is handled. Choose packs with a gluten-free claim.
• Spices: pure single ground spices are gluten-free, and pre-packed is the easier choice than loose spices from a bulk bin. If you use a ready-made Spekulatius spice mix instead (about 1 tbsp), read the label: blends sometimes use wheat flour or wheat starch as a filler.
• Xanthan gum or psyllium, vanilla sugar, flaked almonds: read the labels too.
• Icing sugar, if you dust them to serve: it sometimes contains an anti-caking starch, usually corn or potato. Read the label.
• Your mould: dust it with potato starch, never with ordinary flour. If it has been used for wheat dough, flour sits deep in the carvings: brush it out and wash it well, or keep one mould just for gluten-free baking.
• Contains almonds, egg and milk: worth saying when you share them.
• When a label is unclear, treat it as "not for me".

Swaps
• Binder: 1 tsp xanthan gum or 1 level tsp psyllium husk powder, never both.
• Vanilla: 1 tsp vanilla sugar or ½ tsp vanilla extract.
• Nut-free: leave out the ground almonds and use 50 g more of the flour blend; the biscuits will be a little firmer.

Storage
• Keep them in an airtight tin for about 2 weeks, apart from soft cookies such as Zimtsterne, so they stay crisp.

For gluten-free baking, weigh if you can: cups vary a lot with these flours.

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Can you make Spekulatius without a mould?

Yes, Spekulatius taste the same without a mould. Roll the dough to 3 to 4 mm between two sheets of baking paper and use any cutter; a cookie stamp or an embossed rolling pin gives you a pattern without a carved mould.

Is Spekulatius spice mix gluten-free?

Single ground spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and cloves are gluten-free. A ready-made Spekulatius spice mix is a blend, and blends sometimes use wheat flour or wheat starch as a filler, so read the label (our spices check). This recipe uses five single spices, so there is no blend to check; if you prefer a mix, about 1 tablespoon replaces the five spices.

Why does the dough stick to the mould or crack?

Spekulatius dough sticks when it is too warm or the mould is not dusted enough: chill the dough for 10 minutes and dust the mould again with potato starch. It cracks when it is too cold or a little dry: let it stand for a few minutes, or knead in a teaspoon of milk.

Sources: HTGF ingredient checks on baking powder (fillers of wheat flour or wheat starch; sources Coeliac UK, EU Regulation 1169/2011 and 828/2014, Codex), on spices (single spices and blends; sources EU Regulation 1169/2011, Coeliac UK, Codex) and on sugar and icing sugar (anti-caking starch), checked 28 September 2026; Flour Library pages on rice flour, almond flour and xanthan gum, read 1 November 2026. Recipe: reworked from our Spekulatius bake-along, December 2025. Last checked: 1 November 2026.