December 24, 2025 | 3:10pm
MANILA, Philippines — Gingerbread is one of the most enduring images of the Christmas season, made mainly into cookies and biscuits that one either enjoys as they are or used to make a gingerbread house.
Gingerbread dough itself combines brown sugar, molasses, and spices such as ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger, thus accounting for its brown color and classic shapes (round, gingerbread boy or gingerbread house).
Giving gingerbread cookies a twist is celebrity chef Jackie Ang Po, who adds delightful Speculoos cookie bits into the dough.
These are spiced shortbread cookies or biscuits originating from Belgium and The Netherlands that are the base of the well-known Speculoos cookie butter. So, like the cookie butter spread, Chef Jackie’s Speculoos Gingerbread Cookies go perfectly with coffee.
Speculoos Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cups of Arla Butter
- 3 Tbsps. of hortening
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 3/4 cup of molasses
- 1 egg
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. of baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. of salt
- 1 tsp. of ginger powder
- 1 tsp. of cinnamon
- 1 cup of Speculoos bits
Procedure:
- Melt butter and shortening. Add sugar, molasses and egg. Mix well and cool for a few minutes.
- Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, ginger powder, and cinnamon), and add to the butter mixture. Knead.
- Divide dough into two, and flatten. Place dough in the refrigerator to allow it to set.
- Roll out each dough into 1/8-inch thickness and cut into round cookie shapes.
- Arrange cookies on baking sheet. Top with Speculoos bits.
- Bake for 10 minutes in preheated 350°F/180°C oven (if using regular no-fan oven) or 325°F/165°C oven (if using oven with fan).
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